Dirt In All It's Glory!

Humility comes in so many different shapes and sizes.  I know this from personal experience.  Just this morning, in fact, we had a load of dirt delivered to fill in a low spot in our yard.  The problem began when I completely forgot they were coming early to deliver the dirt today - like before 8 a.m.  So, the kids and I were all cozy in my room, still sleeping....heavily (no judgment!  we're on summer break), when I heard this deep "Honk, Honk!"  I woke up, half in a daze, realized who was here, and threw on the first items of clothing I could find that were not pajamas...which means, I was decent enough to be seen, but I SO did not match in any way, shape, or form.  I actually debated about brushing my teeth before going out to direct the guy where to put the dirt, but he just kept honking, so I didn't have time.  So embarrassing!  I guess that's what I get for actually begging God for humility.  Humility always comes in ways I least expect, and in ways I really would rather it not.  Anyway, we now have a nice mountain of dirt in our backyard.  Which means the kids have a new playground...at least until Daddy gets around to spreading out the dirt to fill the low spot.  So, they spent the better part of the morning playing in the sprinkler and playing in the giant dirt pile.  I love these kinds of days!  Where the kids have no other care in the world, besides just enjoying being a kid.  Just simple fun.  It's country living at its finest.

Of course, the aftermath is not near as pretty, but hey, that's what bathtubs are for =)
(this was actually from a couple days ago, when they were playing in non store-bought dirt, but they pretty much looked like this today, as well)

Natalie told me before the dirt arrived that she was particularly excited about digging for dinosaur bones...I'll let you know if she finds anything ;)

Oh, and just for good measure, here's Rachel, watching the cows from our front window.  This was too cute to pass up!  She was actually 'mooing' at the window =):

Forget the Purell

Seeing that dirt is a major part of me and my family's life, especially my children, I thought I would share this article:

 

Playing in the Dirt Could Make you Smarter, Researchers Say

May 25, 2010 12:52 PM EDT

Go ahead, let your kids play in the dirt, it could make them smarter.

 After conducting a series of experiments, researchers have found exposure to specific bacteria in the environment could increase learning behavior, ScienceDaily.com reported.

"Mycobacterium vaccae is a natural soil bacterium which people likely ingest or breathe in when they spend time in nature," Dorothy Matthews of The Sage Colleges in Troy, N.Y., said.

Previous studies on M. vaccae involving mice showed stimulated growth of some neurons in the brain that resulted in increased levels of serotonin and decreased anxiety.

"Since serotonin plays a role in learning, we wondered if live M. vaccae could improve learning in mice," Matthews said.

Matthews and her colleagues discovered they were on the right track.

"We found that mice that were fed live M. vaccae navigated the maze twice as fast and with less demonstrated anxiety behaviors as control mice," she said. "It is interesting to speculate that creating learning environments in schools that include time in the outdoors where M. vaccae is present may decrease anxiety and improve the ability to learn new tasks."

The findings were presented Monday at the 110th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in San Diego.

Yay for dirt!