Andrea Mulder-Slater

by Andrea Mulder-Slater “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” I’ve always embraced this John Lennon quote. Ok, I’ll be honest. I wish I could embrace this John Lennon quote. If there’s anything being a mom has taught me, it’s how to go with the flow. Understand, this has not been an easy adage for me to adopt. As creative as I am, I’m still a list maker who dreams of organized sock drawers and an empty inbox. Instead, I’m lucky to find matching hosiery and I have 3083 email messages that silently mock me from the safety of my computer. Still, today – at our house - I floated with the current. Now that she’s three, I like to encourage my daughter to choose which art supplies she feels like working with. On this day, she dug out a few little pots of acrylic paint, some paintbrushes, small paper plates and oil pastels. While she laid out the materials, I filled a small bowl with water. Together my girl and I dabbed bright juicy c...

by Andrea Mulder-Slater Lately, my 3 year old daughter's tiny dolls have been participating in an all nude revue of some sort --  the whereabouts of their clothes unknown. Until now. As I was sorting the darks from the lights in the laundry hamper, I came across these... Lord knows being a doll is a dirty job, what with being carted here and there by chubby strawberry jam covered hands. Not to mention the crap you pick up while gallivanting with adventurous dinosaurs and an  incredulous poop-covered mole . Clearly my daughter recognizes this, which is why she carefully undressed her playthings and placed their shirts, pants and tops where she thought they should go - one step closer to being Ivory Snow clean. Still, I hesitated to wash the minuscule outfits, concerned that due to their size, they would become lost forever in the vortex that is our washing machine... a place where socks rarely come out in pairs. So instead, I decided to tel...