As a father of 3 boys, with the first entering 1st grade soon, this is something that I have thought about. Below are a few thoughts. First off...I have heard that the "late and great" Michelle Derviss is authoring a book on the topic: "The Backyard Kidspaces Idea Book" from Taunton Press. We shall see if her volume contains ideas that are within the budget of us that are not members of the Marin County Millionaires Club. Lawn: This is probably the most useful item in my landscape. The kids love an open area to play soccer, hit a ball, play in the sprinkler, set up a tent, and such. My kids also love running around the house and at my new place they can ride the electric car all around the house as well. Playset: A few years ago I picked up a large wooden playset that Costco was selling. Is it worth the assembly time, the expense and the room that it takes up? I am not sure. They do play on it some what and it is a good place to congregate with friends, or at least push a toddler in the swing while the other boys play. Places to be boys: I need more areas where my boys can be boys. There is a balancing act between creating areas that kids want to play and areas that parents want their kids to play. Piles of dirt and pits of mud are great...if you are a little boy (I don't have much little girl experience), but maybe not so great for Parents. My oldest was upset when I cut down some overgrown forsythia bushes because he liked to play under them. Kids Garden: My 6 year old has gotten a reasonable amount of joy out of a butterfly garden that we (mostly I) planted. He enjoyed picking out some annuals, he enjoys seeing a butterfly in "his" garden, but he really loves finding worms! If he finds a worm elsewhere in the yard he will take it back to his garden. Changes and Personalities: Kids change quickly, so it would be hard for me to invest a bunch of time or money into something that will only provide one year's worth of interest. Also, I see quite a difference between what things my 6 and 4 year olds like to do (it is a bit early to tell with the youngest). One needs areas to run and play sports, while the other would be fine to sit and play with characters. Make sure you are creating items that YOUR kids would want to play with. - Brent

texjagman, Great suggestion. I borrowed that book from the library. For now, it is one of my top two choices. I like how it talks of pine, spruce, and fir trees and how growing Christmas trees is a year round job. We have various species of pine and spruce the children can go outside and explore. In talking further with the nature center where this would be held, I was told we don't have to completely avoid the Christmas theme....I know some places would have issues with that. So this book may well be the one I use. Pineresin, I agree, people need real world experiences with nature. Not much good to only read about it. We'll try to spend most of the class time out exploring the forest of Red and Eastern White Pines, White and Norway and Colorado Blue Spruce, and Eastern Red-cedar (I don't think I'll be telling 4 year olds those are really junipers!). I'll make sure the craft part includes real needles and cones to touch and play with and some to take home. Maybe we'll even plant a tree or two. Our weather is unseasonably warm yet and the bird feeders at the center need some cover nearby. I appreciate being reminded that real plants need to be the main focus.

Oh, yes, I re-read all the time. The ones I re-read the most are Jane Austen's novels, the "Outlander" series by Diana Gabaldon, "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy (one of my favorite books ever), and "Far From the Madding Crowd" by Thomas Hardy. I've re-read "To Kill a Mockingbird," too, but only 3-4 times.:)

Carolyn and Merry, after reading the book mentioned above it appears that the court tried to 'get her' on a charge of spying. The German trial dealt with over 80 people in one day and no prisoners had been allowed to be seen by a defence lawyer. None of the court justices spoke French, the prisoners didn't speak German. Nurse Cavell spoke only French and a single interpreter was able to go from French to German but none of the prisoners or the defence members were allowed to read/check the German written statements taken at the time of arrest. At the time the only person in authority to 'help' EC was the head of the neutral US Legation in Brussels (representing UK affairs) who suffered from a delicate constitution and had taken to his bed. Much hand-wringing throughout Europe but little practical help and (in hindsight) only a day in which to do it. After the very speedy execution and burial the German General who had passed the sentence was hastily 'recalled' by the Kaiser and the US Head of Legation sent back to DC for 'recuperation'. I am not a lawyer but wonder at the term traitor in this context. I'm sure one of you knows if you can be a traitor in the country in which you are working, that has been overrun by another power. So EC though English, working in Belgium for all nationalities is a traitor to the invaders . . . very complicated. Had the Geneva Convention been introduced by WWI? Perhaps I'd better look it up myself.