Now that we are fostering a dog I meet local families at adoption day each weekend and some have shared stories of recently losing a pet. I tear up when I hear them. Our wonderful vet is involved in a Pet Remembrance Candle Lighting Ceremony in Leesburg next week, and I offered to help get the word out. The event will be held at St. James’ Episcopal Church (14 Cornwall Street NW Leesburg 20176) at 6:00 P.M. on Friday March 5th. The deadline to include your pet’s photo in the slideshow has passed, but you and your family can still attend to remember a pet together and put a picture of your pet on the Memory Board. Here are some details straight from the flier:

If you have questions you can reach Dr. Krisi Erwin of the Leesburg Veterinary hospital at this email address.

Info about the upcoming Ashburn MOMS Clubs’ preschool forum is quickly spreading through various moms groups throughout the county. The announcement follows.

The MOMS Clubs® of the Ashburn Area are pleased to present:

Ashburn Preschool Forum

Saturday, January 23, 2010
9:00am – 12:00pm
The Mills Recreation Center
43895 Grottoes Drive in Ashburn Village

Are you considering preschool for your child?

Come get the parents’ perspective on our local schools!
Information about the preschools in our area will be available and moms with children in the various schools will be speaking about their personal experience with the teachers and schools.
Open to ALL Ashburn Area parents!

For more information, please contact MOMSClub@tjdjmail. com

**** We’re currently looking for parents of children in the preschools to speak at the forum. This is the 4th year we’ve held the forum and the people attending always seem very grateful to have some “inside knowledge” about the schools.
Here are the schools we hope to include at the forum, so if you’d like to volunteer to speak for about 5 minutes about your experience with one of these schools please email momsclub@tjdjmail. com. We also hope to have some of the special needs programs represented so if you are willing to share your experience with those we’d love to have you. Your participation would be very much appreciated!

A Child’s Place Preschool
Arcola Christian Preschool
Ashburn Children’s Center
Ashburn Village Country Day School
Audubon Nature Preschool
Bean Tree Learning
The Boyd School
Briar Woods Early Learning Lab (Preschool at the Woods)
Broad Run Early Learning Lab
Busy Bees (Kari Vance)
Celebration
Chesterbrook Academy
Christian Fellowship School
Classroom of Discovery
Claude Moore Preschool (formerly Sterling Annex)
Discovery Oaks Academy
Dulles South Preschool
Fit 2 Learn
Goddard School (Belmont Greene)
Goddard School (Ashburn)
Golden Pond
Growing Minds (Judi Ratcliffe)
Heaven Sent Christian Preschool
Hope Christian Preschool
Kids Under Construction
KinderCare Learning Center
KinderWorks in Brambleton (formerly Winwood)
Little Learners Academy
Little Sprouts Preschool
Loudoun Country Day School
Minnieland
Montessori Academy at Belmont Greene
Montessori Children’s House of Loudoun
My Favorite Place Preschool
Open Arms Christian Child Development Center
School of Spanish (Magnolia Inmon)
Sha’are Shalom Rosie Uran Jewish Education Center
South Riding Children’s Center
St. David’s Episcopal Preschool
Sterling Annex Preschool
Stone Bridge Early Learning Lab
Virginia Academy/Ark Preschool
Willow Montessori
Winnie the Pooh
Winwood Children’s Center

‘Tis the season for giving, but it can often be hard to know how to help or where to start. Here are a few ideas on how to spread the love beyond your own family.

Donate to a local nonprofit

If your mailbox looks anything like mine this week you know that there are many community based, not for profit organizations around who need our financial support to continue their important work. I am supporting the Loudoun Literacy Council this year and invite you to join me. The Loudoun Literacy Council’s dedicated team of volunteers and staff are committed to improving English literacy skills of at-risk adults, children and families in Loudoun County through ESL course offerings, story times in local homeless shelters, book donations, community events, individual tutoring, and working with the county Head Start program. Each of these offerings affects individuals, and their stories drive me to help the Loudoun Literacy Council in any way I can. Plus, gifts in December 2009 will be doubled up to $10,000 by an anonymous donor and I like the idea of doubling my gift.

Consider giving “alternative gifts” to the idealists on your list this year

You and your loved ones can create alternative gift registries with help from the folks at a New American Dream. Imagine the impact you can have on a young child by helping them develop an other-centered alternative holiday gift list.

You can shop at one of the local Alternative Gift Fairs which allow you to donate to local nonprofit organizations on behalf of someone on your shopping list. Much better than a lump of coal.

If you are globally inclined, there is always Heifer International which promises to help you “choose a meaningful gift to give a loved one and help children and families around the world receive training and animal gifts that help them become self-reliant.”

Short on cash? There are still many ways you can help our community!

Donate Blood

The Red Cross is ALWAYS looking for blood donors. This is not a kid-friendly task (you should have seen the looks they gave me when I tried to sneak the kids onto the blood-mobile a few years back!), but could be a nice escape on the weekend if you are not bothered by needles and blood. If you are not eligible, maybe you can babysit for a friend while s/he donates.

Help the Ashburn Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department

By participating in a short fire safety survey between now and December 21, 2009, you can help the Ashburn Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department win a $10,000 grant. I just did this and promise to revisit this post if I start getting oodles of junk mail. Of course, by then it may be too late.…

Provide a foster home for a homeless animal

There are many animal rescue organizations here in Northern Virginia that need help from dedicated, experienced animal lovers who are willing to train, socialize and love pets seeking new forever homes. Here are some of your options:

• HART (Homeless Animal Rescue Team)
• 4Paws (cats only)
• Friends of Homeless Animals
• Paws Rescue (dogs only)

I have not personally fostered for any of these organizations. I recommend contacting an agency to see if it feels like a fit, and seriously considering whether fostering is right for your family before you start. It is a big commitment!

Volunteer to post fliers for a local nonprofit

This is a fun project to involve the kids in as you can traipse through your local community center, post office, gym, and library together and talk about the folks you are helping as you go. But, watch out! You may get so attached to their mission you end up volunteering in other capacities…

Conduct your own community clean up

Look for it and you will find trash, dog feces, cigarette butts and other messes in our shared spaces. Teach your kids a lesson and work together to help clean a little piece of it up. Don’t forget to wear gloves and wash your hands! If you need a little literature to connect the dots for younger kids, check out the book All the Way to the Ocean by Joel Harper.

Leverage your grocery bill

If your frequent shopper club card at your store of choice is not already connected to a scrip program supporting your local schools or favorite nonprofit consider supporting the Georgetown Child Life program through the Giant Bonus Bucks program. The thought of spending the holidays away from home in a hospital is difficult for many of us to imagine, but for some it is a constant reality. Having a few toys around sounds like a good thing.

And if all else fails, just count birds

Seriously! You can join the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy at their 13th annual Christmas Bird Count on December 27, 2009.

The volunteer rescue departments in both Leesburg and Ashburn have published schedules for Santa’s upcoming joy rides.

He’ll be in different parts of Leesburg each night December 6th through 12th and in Ashburn December 12th only (rain date Dec. 13th).

Please remember that the routes could change if the departments are called for emergencies!

I just received this email from Loudoun County and thought I would share. My kids have always loved stopping to watch the skateboarders at the Catoctin Skate Park in Leesburg and are hoping to skate with the big kids someday soon. Maybe your kids feel the same way?

The Loudoun County Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services and the South Riding Proprietary are pleased to announce the opening of the new Dulles South Skate Park on Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 1:00 p.m.

The skate facility represents a collaborative effort by the county and the homeowners’ association to provide safe recreational skateboarding opportunities for community youth. The original concept, presented to the public in August 2008, called for skate spots along a planned trail near the Dulles South Multipurpose Center. An alternative location adjacent to the center was later identified, which required only minimum site preparations, and a new design was created by SITE Design Group, Inc. of Solana Beach, California.

The 5,600 square-foot park accommodates skateboards, inline skates, and non-motorized scooters with concrete features including ramps, rails, stairs, stacked ledges, floating quarter pipes, and a pump bump.

Under a memorandum of understanding, the South Riding Proprietary assumed one hundred percent of the costs associated with construction of the skate area. California Skateparks from Upland, California was the general contractor on the project. The property is owned by the county, which will be responsible for the maintenance, operation, oversight, and administration of the facility.

The Dulles South Multipurpose Center is located at 24950 Riding Center Drive.

For more information, call 703–777-0343 or visit www.southriding.net.

This time of year my daycare friends always love playing this game. Luckily I do not have to remember the words or melody. I just watch the YouTube video that morning and I am set! (How ever did we manage before YouTube?)

The annual Bluemont fair is coming up again this weekend (9–19 & 20). Here’s the scoop from two years ago. Please remember to check their website for this year’s details!

The Monroe Technology Center in Leesburg is holding its fall plant sale this week!

I am a failure as a gardener, but the plants I bought at MTC’s spring plant sale held up better than the rest of my attempts. I have found the students, staff and volunteers working past plant sales to be courteous and helpful. Most importantly I enjoy the feeling of community I get from buying my plants at a local high school rather than a large overwhelming box store and my kids love pulling the wagons around and helping me choose a couple plants.

Don’t forget to bring cash or a checkbook!

While you are in the neighborhood I highly recommend a stop at the Rust Nature Sanctuary at the end of Children’s Center Road. It has been beautiful lately!

Here’s the scoop as shared on their website and mailing:

Monroe Technology Center (MTC) will hold its annual Fall Plant Sale from Wednesday, September 16th through Friday, September 18th. The hours of the sale will be

•  10 am — 8 pm on Sept 16th
•  10 am — 6 pm on Sept 17th
•  10 am — 5 pm on Sept 18th

Proceeds from the sale will go to scholarships for MTC students.

Plants for sale include:

• Mums
• Hardy Winter Pansies
• Fall Perennials
• Trees
• Shrubs

MTC is located at: (map it)
715 Children’s Center Road
Leesburg, VA  20175

9 S Summit Avenue (map it)
Gaithersburg, MD 20877
301–258-6160

The Gaithersburg Community Museum is neither big nor fancy — it is just a one room affair with a model train set up,  gift items for sale, historical displays, and a friendly docent — but it is worth stopping by if you are in the neighborhood!

Gaithersburg Community Museum

Old train outside (for looking, not climbing)

Please ignore the glare!

View from the back of the museum

There is a ramp for strollers and wheelchairs, but the place is small enough that you might find bigger strollers difficult to maneuver.  The museum does not have bathrooms, but there are bathrooms in the building next door shared by the MARC train station and a small cafe.

I cried at the Audubon Society Spring Fair this year. It was because I was touched by a DVD the Shenandoah Mountain Rescue Group screened in their tent at the fair. “LOST!… But Found, Safe and Sound” is a film produced by the Association of National Park Rangers that tells the story of a girl who gets lost in the woods overnight, and is found safe the next morning. I cannot begin to imagine losing my kids in the woods, let alone overnight. I was moved enough to donate a few bucks to support the group’s important work, and you can donate online too.

Here is a copy of the flier they handed out, which I am sharing for educational purposes (as per their copyright permissions).

Click to view/download the PDF

As the film recommended, I bought my kids whistles the very next day. My son is still asking me to buy him a fanny pack to carry his emergency survival supplies.