Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
death...
Morbid. Yes, I know.
Do you know what your plans are for your own funeral?
I do.
I want to be buried in the CHEAPEST casket you can possibly buy. SAVE the money for the huge spray of flowers on top.. something VERY simply will do! Have people send money in lieu of flowers or at least make sure to take the flowers somewhere they can be appreciated.... don't leave them at the graveside. NO cremation! I gotta know my bones are dust in the Earth!
No big fancy headstone-- just enough so that you can find me to come visit.
DO not bury me in some fancy dress or stupid thing like that! I mean jeans and a polo work for me in life.. they will work for me in death! A little make up is fine, but NO more than I would in life.
When I was younger my grandmother passed away (my dads mom)... and she was my favorite! I mean she made me feel loved and like I was apart of the family--- sometimes I wondered at that young age with my family... Amy adn Brian seemed to fit, but I didn't. Anyway, when she passed away it was a really big deal for me. I missed school for a whole week. I remember being at the funeral and my best friend Suzy Johnson's mom MADE me go look at her--- she said it was disrespectful if I didn't! So I did. I remember her hair was all extra curly and she had on so much makeup that I could barely recognize her. THIS traumatized me. I mean to this day I resent that I had to go look at her. Gotta let that go soon! :)
Anyway, there weren't many deaths that touched me again until I was a grown up adn my great grandmother died. I did go "see" her also, but it took a lot and she was less made up--- PLUS I knew she would have liked being all dolled up and people looking at her! I faired much better as an adult.
So those were the only two funerals I have EVER looked at the person.
Until my husband grandmother died a few years ago that is... and I took the kids (this was their first funeral ever) up to see her if they wanted to -- which weirdly enough they all did. It wasn't as traumatic for them as it was for me... I don't know why it hits some people the way it does.
So three. That's it. I have been to a FEW other funeral but choose to stay in the back. Or I choose to not go. Disrespectful or not... that is ME.
So when I die... don't come if you are freaked out by "looking" or come sit in the back! I won't care! :0)
I am trying to be lighthearted when really this is such a serious conversation. People you need to be prepared. We don't know when death is coming. You need to have a plan and you need to have things organized. You need to know what your spouse would like, and you need to know what the next step is.
I for one KNOW that when I die... I want to be surrounded by my family and my real friends-- anyone else, I don't really care. When I die.. I want more joy than sadness, but you cant make people be glad! When I die... I want stories about me, but NO rose colored glasses-- tell it like it was. If I die before my kids are grown.. I want you to tell them the things I would tell them.. I want you to help them become the person God wants them to be...I want you to help Dave because Lord will he need it.
I also want when I die...to die in summer. I think maybe, just maybe your grief lasts a shorter time when life is growing and the sun is shining.. i think it lasts longer in the bleak winter, when all is grey and life is scarce. So if I could choose- which I can't, I choose all of this and it is written down for all to see---FOREVER.
Forever.. even unto death.
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalms 34:18
Do you know what your plans are for your own funeral?
I do.
I want to be buried in the CHEAPEST casket you can possibly buy. SAVE the money for the huge spray of flowers on top.. something VERY simply will do! Have people send money in lieu of flowers or at least make sure to take the flowers somewhere they can be appreciated.... don't leave them at the graveside. NO cremation! I gotta know my bones are dust in the Earth!
No big fancy headstone-- just enough so that you can find me to come visit.
DO not bury me in some fancy dress or stupid thing like that! I mean jeans and a polo work for me in life.. they will work for me in death! A little make up is fine, but NO more than I would in life.
When I was younger my grandmother passed away (my dads mom)... and she was my favorite! I mean she made me feel loved and like I was apart of the family--- sometimes I wondered at that young age with my family... Amy adn Brian seemed to fit, but I didn't. Anyway, when she passed away it was a really big deal for me. I missed school for a whole week. I remember being at the funeral and my best friend Suzy Johnson's mom MADE me go look at her--- she said it was disrespectful if I didn't! So I did. I remember her hair was all extra curly and she had on so much makeup that I could barely recognize her. THIS traumatized me. I mean to this day I resent that I had to go look at her. Gotta let that go soon! :)
Anyway, there weren't many deaths that touched me again until I was a grown up adn my great grandmother died. I did go "see" her also, but it took a lot and she was less made up--- PLUS I knew she would have liked being all dolled up and people looking at her! I faired much better as an adult.
So those were the only two funerals I have EVER looked at the person.
Until my husband grandmother died a few years ago that is... and I took the kids (this was their first funeral ever) up to see her if they wanted to -- which weirdly enough they all did. It wasn't as traumatic for them as it was for me... I don't know why it hits some people the way it does.
So three. That's it. I have been to a FEW other funeral but choose to stay in the back. Or I choose to not go. Disrespectful or not... that is ME.
So when I die... don't come if you are freaked out by "looking" or come sit in the back! I won't care! :0)
I am trying to be lighthearted when really this is such a serious conversation. People you need to be prepared. We don't know when death is coming. You need to have a plan and you need to have things organized. You need to know what your spouse would like, and you need to know what the next step is.
I for one KNOW that when I die... I want to be surrounded by my family and my real friends-- anyone else, I don't really care. When I die.. I want more joy than sadness, but you cant make people be glad! When I die... I want stories about me, but NO rose colored glasses-- tell it like it was. If I die before my kids are grown.. I want you to tell them the things I would tell them.. I want you to help them become the person God wants them to be...I want you to help Dave because Lord will he need it.
I also want when I die...to die in summer. I think maybe, just maybe your grief lasts a shorter time when life is growing and the sun is shining.. i think it lasts longer in the bleak winter, when all is grey and life is scarce. So if I could choose- which I can't, I choose all of this and it is written down for all to see---FOREVER.
Forever.. even unto death.
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalms 34:18
Monday, February 7, 2011
One thousand gifts a practice in gratitude... 3
103. for God's peace
104. for friends who pray with you
105. for a family that lived close
106. for doctors and medicine that have a place in this world
107. for verses that remind me
108. for a quiet Sunday with no responsibilities
109. for understanding
110. for my husband and each and every moment I have with him
111. for sweet kisses from my daughter
112. for reminders that my eldest is growing up quickly
113. for moments that stop time and a feeling of peace
114. for prayer warriors who spend time on their knees
115. for reminders to not take life for granted...
116. for people who donate their bodies so that others can live
117. for this blog to record my thoughts and days
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Passing away.
I remember coming home from having Emily... I have been in the hospital for over 6 weeks. It was strange almost as though the house didn't belong to me anymore. I felt like I was invading someone else's space. I had a baby with me of course which I remember one of my biggest fears was coming home with no baby. I had told my mom and sister in the event something happened I wanted all baby stuff removed.. I didn't want to come home and have to be surrounded with infants stuff. I know that is horrible but in the situation I was in I wanted to be prepared. I knew that walking into my home and seeing all those baby things would take me to an even greater depth of grief than I could ever imagine...
But thankfully of course Emily was born healthy as could be.... I walked through my front door with three beautiful children. I was thankful for the infant clothes, the tiny diapers and the plethora of reminders that grace a persons home when baby makes appearance.
For Laura I cant imagine. She has been gone for weeks and when she returns she will return alone. When she went to visit Kyle a few weeks ago, she probably left the tv on, the book she was reading on the night stand.. maybe Kyle's shoes were scattered on his side of the bed for all I know. Soon when she walks into the house knowing he is gone.. I cant imagine how that will feel. You cannot erase all the reminders of a grown person... they have touched lives for 40 years. They have ensconced themselves in your very being. You have molded and become like them changing habits and things about YOU as the two of you have become ONE.
Have you noticed that.... how sometimes old married couples begin to look alike? Have you noticed that you can know a persons Ideals and thoughts on a subject but after 10 years of marriage... you might not know them anymore because their thoughts and ideals have melded into "our" thoughts and ideals. It is a strange process, I don't think becoming ONE happens at marriage... I think it begins at marriage. I think we continue on this journey after the rings are exchanged, the glasses toasted and the cake cut.
So Laura has been with Kyle for years, they have raised a teenage son, they have a dog and a cat, his car sits in the garage. Kyle has a laptop and a book shelf, a drawer in the dresser. His shampoo and razor are on the bathroom counter.. his set of keys to the house on the dresser.
How do you do that... how to you walk into the home knowing? I ache for Laura... I am overwhelmed with sadness for her because I cannot begin to imagine what on earth is going through her heart and mind. I am glad that it was not a quick death, meaning I am glad that Laura got to say goodbye. I am glad she got to hold his hand and stroke his face one last time. I am glad she got to say the things she needed to say. His will is in order, perhaps some papers are in order... he would have taken care of that going into surgery of course. But truthfully right now, that matters little. It is the emotion. The sadness. The grief. The pain. The heartache.
But thankfully of course Emily was born healthy as could be.... I walked through my front door with three beautiful children. I was thankful for the infant clothes, the tiny diapers and the plethora of reminders that grace a persons home when baby makes appearance.
For Laura I cant imagine. She has been gone for weeks and when she returns she will return alone. When she went to visit Kyle a few weeks ago, she probably left the tv on, the book she was reading on the night stand.. maybe Kyle's shoes were scattered on his side of the bed for all I know. Soon when she walks into the house knowing he is gone.. I cant imagine how that will feel. You cannot erase all the reminders of a grown person... they have touched lives for 40 years. They have ensconced themselves in your very being. You have molded and become like them changing habits and things about YOU as the two of you have become ONE.
Have you noticed that.... how sometimes old married couples begin to look alike? Have you noticed that you can know a persons Ideals and thoughts on a subject but after 10 years of marriage... you might not know them anymore because their thoughts and ideals have melded into "our" thoughts and ideals. It is a strange process, I don't think becoming ONE happens at marriage... I think it begins at marriage. I think we continue on this journey after the rings are exchanged, the glasses toasted and the cake cut.
So Laura has been with Kyle for years, they have raised a teenage son, they have a dog and a cat, his car sits in the garage. Kyle has a laptop and a book shelf, a drawer in the dresser. His shampoo and razor are on the bathroom counter.. his set of keys to the house on the dresser.
How do you do that... how to you walk into the home knowing? I ache for Laura... I am overwhelmed with sadness for her because I cannot begin to imagine what on earth is going through her heart and mind. I am glad that it was not a quick death, meaning I am glad that Laura got to say goodbye. I am glad she got to hold his hand and stroke his face one last time. I am glad she got to say the things she needed to say. His will is in order, perhaps some papers are in order... he would have taken care of that going into surgery of course. But truthfully right now, that matters little. It is the emotion. The sadness. The grief. The pain. The heartache.
Psalm 103:8-17
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
10 He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
13 The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
14 For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.
15 Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
16 The wind blows, and we are gone—
as though we had never been here.
17 But the love of the Lord remains forever
with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Embracing Our Lifestyle...
I have friends, blogs and people that I envy how they run their lives. I don't mean they have everything together. I don't mean they have perfect lives. I don't mean that I envy THEIR lives.
I envy how they run their lives.
THEY are in control of their lives. They make decisions for their family based on what their family needs. They order the steps of their day based on what their family needs. They have or do things that are best for their family.
Now I don't mean that I never do these things for my family. We do, but I still struggle with making decisions and worrying about what others will do.
***I still struggle with doing what the world indicates is necessary.
***I still struggle with allowing other peoples lifestyle to govern what ours looks like.
***I still struggle with thinking what I choose to do is wrong or bad or not the best judgement.
***I still struggle with choosing a path that is not conducive to what we want for our family.
*** I still struggle with not setting up our day and home to meet the needs of our family.
I plan on giving more examples of this in the coming weeks... but with this being the year of decor, I want to embrace our lifestyle of being a home schooling family. I go back and forth with wanting home schooling to invade EVERY area of our life.. but then thinking it isn't okay for our home to look like we home school. Of course those two thought patterns don't jive. Now maybe if I had a separate room for our schooling stuff I could of course mesh those thought patterns, but our current living situations dictates where our school room is. I have thought of moving the dining area back to the "real supposed to be dining room" area and the school room back into the utility room.
My problems lies with the fact that I don't like how big the "real dining room area is" I don't know how to separate out that space so that the area doesn't feel WASTED. The utility room is small, technically large enough for us to school in, but still small. So should I switch the rooms and just work it out? What meets our needs more? Or just EMBRACE our current situation...and let the school room be the MAIN emphasis.
Well Hubbie decided for me! He says embrace that we are home schoolers and keep as it... he reminded me of why I moved from the utility/ dining room in the first place. He said this is just how it is for now... anyone who comes to our house---KNOWS who we are.
So there you have it.
Ways I am going to embrace this is to decorate the school room in a manner that is whimsy and promotes learning! I want to not be ashamed of the wall of posters -showing what we are learning! I will simply display them proudly! It brings to mind the movie CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN- the new one, not the old one!
The father is an efficiency expert.. every year they rented a house at the seashore and the dad came up with a gimmick to teach the kids something over the summer. Well during the movie the dad painted Morse code on the bathroom so that the kids would learn it that summer! What a way to embrace learning! Now I don't want to go that far!
I don't want THIS....
I want a bigger white board---- I always run out of room!!!
You know but of course minus all the ducks. :)
GOSH I AM SO PICKY!!!!
Anhoo I digress.
Embracing our homeschooling lifestyle. It is important to me because it is so much a part of who I feel I am, and who we are as a family. I do want my home to be welcoming to others, I do want my home to be used for other purposes so there must be a balance that I can find....
What are your thoughts???
I envy how they run their lives.
THEY are in control of their lives. They make decisions for their family based on what their family needs. They order the steps of their day based on what their family needs. They have or do things that are best for their family.
Now I don't mean that I never do these things for my family. We do, but I still struggle with making decisions and worrying about what others will do.
***I still struggle with doing what the world indicates is necessary.
***I still struggle with allowing other peoples lifestyle to govern what ours looks like.
***I still struggle with thinking what I choose to do is wrong or bad or not the best judgement.
***I still struggle with choosing a path that is not conducive to what we want for our family.
*** I still struggle with not setting up our day and home to meet the needs of our family.
I plan on giving more examples of this in the coming weeks... but with this being the year of decor, I want to embrace our lifestyle of being a home schooling family. I go back and forth with wanting home schooling to invade EVERY area of our life.. but then thinking it isn't okay for our home to look like we home school. Of course those two thought patterns don't jive. Now maybe if I had a separate room for our schooling stuff I could of course mesh those thought patterns, but our current living situations dictates where our school room is. I have thought of moving the dining area back to the "real supposed to be dining room" area and the school room back into the utility room.
My problems lies with the fact that I don't like how big the "real dining room area is" I don't know how to separate out that space so that the area doesn't feel WASTED. The utility room is small, technically large enough for us to school in, but still small. So should I switch the rooms and just work it out? What meets our needs more? Or just EMBRACE our current situation...and let the school room be the MAIN emphasis.
Well Hubbie decided for me! He says embrace that we are home schoolers and keep as it... he reminded me of why I moved from the utility/ dining room in the first place. He said this is just how it is for now... anyone who comes to our house---KNOWS who we are.
So there you have it.
Ways I am going to embrace this is to decorate the school room in a manner that is whimsy and promotes learning! I want to not be ashamed of the wall of posters -showing what we are learning! I will simply display them proudly! It brings to mind the movie CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN- the new one, not the old one!
I don't want THIS....
Nor do I need THIS..
How about this peaceful, well ordered school room...
I want a bigger white board---- I always run out of room!!!
I know that I want scripture. One of the main verses we have for this year is 'hiding God's Word in our heart, so that we might not sin against Him"--- I cannot expect my children to learn scripture if I do not show it's incredible importance. I need to have God's Word be the focal point of our home- I want it in my decor, but not like this...
more like this
GOSH I AM SO PICKY!!!!
Anhoo I digress.
Embracing our homeschooling lifestyle. It is important to me because it is so much a part of who I feel I am, and who we are as a family. I do want my home to be welcoming to others, I do want my home to be used for other purposes so there must be a balance that I can find....
What are your thoughts???
Friday, February 4, 2011
Weekly Wrap Up -- Week 26
go check out everyone eles at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers...
Monday morning we got up, took Daddy to work, got our MONDAY donuts (new big hit with the kids!), took dry cleaning, ran by the post office, and got home!
MONDAYS are my get out in the morning and run THOSE kind of errands day.
BUT I got home and we started school- I didn't wait to do chores, I didn't start laundry, I didn'tlog into face book check on important stuff. I just sat down and started school.
BIG, HUGE, WONDERFUL difference!
So Brenda (I am thinking the chores moved to another time besides the morning is a GO!)
So just on Monday- 4 lessons of Writing with Ease done, 3 lessons in FLL (with accompanying worksheets I print out), 3 lessons done in FLL3, Emily did part of a LLATL lesson, handwriting, Math, BIBLE before we stopped for lunch! WHOO HOO.
Of course the day went down hill from there BUT heck, at least that got done.
I got on the phone and made 5 eye doctor appointments, 3 dentist appointments, 1 ENT appointments, a neurology appointment, and 3 pediatric well visits. NOW I JUST GOTTA KEEP EM!
My mom and sister, with my niece in tow came over... so we had a pretty good visit, sans my headache!
Tuesday-- well Monday night landed me at Urgent care and over to the hospital for a CT scan and blood work. The CT scan didn't show anything unusual but my white count was extremely high, so I am on antibiotics for whatever infection there is, pain med for my actual headache (which has only managed to take the edge off) and a decongestant for some sinus issue (which is making the original headache worse and could possibly be the infection!)
So I slept in on Monday while Dave took Matt to the ENT- which was fine (tonsils and adenoids swollen slightly low numbers possibly due to the tonsils an adenoids. We simply go back in three months to check again)
The kids did math, handwriting and Explode the Code (Emily) and that was that for the day.
Day OVER
Wednesday...
We stayed home in our COLD, COLD weather! BUT no snow day for us.. we used the opportunity to bust out the school books! We worked from 9:00-5:00, literally--- with a few breaks! We had fun stuff too!
It is Groundhog Day so we started our morning off seeing what good Ole' Phil had to say, see what else we did here!
All About Spelling--- FINISHED Level 1, Whoo hoo, onto Level 2 (I already have it, what a blessing!)
Bible- we started the story of Samuel and Eli.
LLATL---check
IEW- Kate is continuing on lesson 4
Math- check
Handwriting- check
History----read Johnny Tremain some more, finished the Matchlock Gun with Emily...
Science--- completely and totally caught up and have read and started reading THE NERVOUS SYSTEM... which we have already done some discussing and activity on...
We worked on our next service project...
We started Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends...
We started our MONTH OF LOVE...(I already posted on this here)
We used our Challenge Jars for the second day!
Thursday---
This is Dave's weird morning off once a month, so I was determined to not let it deter us from our awesome schooling... so we got up and got started at 9:00. HA. It was really 10:30, but we got started okay! :0)
I prodded Hubbie out of bed and he sat with us while we did Bible with the kids and then memory work.
and helped them with their LOVE CHALLENGE pick of the day.
We did FLL (conjunctions, quotation marks and review of adverbs)
writing (Kate did IEW and Matt wrote another Lego episode)
We also continued working on our science- by starting the crossword puzzle.
We read more of Johnny Tremain.
Emily and I started reading Felicity and doing a lapbook on her. I ordered the movie to watch, because no one had it....oh well.
We of course did math, handwriting and Explode the Code. CHECK!
Emily also did a unit on homophones because on Tuesday she asked me if her soul was on her foot-- she got confused when her gymnastics teacher said something about landing on the sole of your feet. SO we learned about homophones! :)
soul- sole
aunt- ant
beat- beet
hare- hair
meat- meet
She also got another book on her chart for LLATL! WE also started the next lessons.
Whewwww... then my decongestant kicked in and I was DONE! :)
FRIDAY
The decongestant I am taking is kicking my bootie! I slept until 10:00 because I took a dose at 8:00. But Dave had the kids get chores done before he left for work at 10:30. I got up, made breakfast, took a picture of our ICE STORM- no snow, just a little ice....
and then I went back to bed, where I stayed and the kids got LOADS of physical activity by playing the Wii.
But we had three awesome days! :)
Monday morning we got up, took Daddy to work, got our MONDAY donuts (new big hit with the kids!), took dry cleaning, ran by the post office, and got home!
MONDAYS are my get out in the morning and run THOSE kind of errands day.
BUT I got home and we started school- I didn't wait to do chores, I didn't start laundry, I didn't
BIG, HUGE, WONDERFUL difference!
So Brenda (I am thinking the chores moved to another time besides the morning is a GO!)
So just on Monday- 4 lessons of Writing with Ease done, 3 lessons in FLL (with accompanying worksheets I print out), 3 lessons done in FLL3, Emily did part of a LLATL lesson, handwriting, Math, BIBLE before we stopped for lunch! WHOO HOO.
Of course the day went down hill from there BUT heck, at least that got done.
I got on the phone and made 5 eye doctor appointments, 3 dentist appointments, 1 ENT appointments, a neurology appointment, and 3 pediatric well visits. NOW I JUST GOTTA KEEP EM!
My mom and sister, with my niece in tow came over... so we had a pretty good visit, sans my headache!
Tuesday-- well Monday night landed me at Urgent care and over to the hospital for a CT scan and blood work. The CT scan didn't show anything unusual but my white count was extremely high, so I am on antibiotics for whatever infection there is, pain med for my actual headache (which has only managed to take the edge off) and a decongestant for some sinus issue (which is making the original headache worse and could possibly be the infection!)
So I slept in on Monday while Dave took Matt to the ENT- which was fine (tonsils and adenoids swollen slightly low numbers possibly due to the tonsils an adenoids. We simply go back in three months to check again)
The kids did math, handwriting and Explode the Code (Emily) and that was that for the day.
Day OVER
Wednesday...
We stayed home in our COLD, COLD weather! BUT no snow day for us.. we used the opportunity to bust out the school books! We worked from 9:00-5:00, literally--- with a few breaks! We had fun stuff too!
It is Groundhog Day so we started our morning off seeing what good Ole' Phil had to say, see what else we did here!
All About Spelling--- FINISHED Level 1, Whoo hoo, onto Level 2 (I already have it, what a blessing!)
LLATL---check
IEW- Kate is continuing on lesson 4
Math- check
Handwriting- check
History----read Johnny Tremain some more, finished the Matchlock Gun with Emily...
Science--- completely and totally caught up and have read and started reading THE NERVOUS SYSTEM... which we have already done some discussing and activity on...
We worked on our next service project...
We started Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends...
We started our MONTH OF LOVE...(I already posted on this here)
We used our Challenge Jars for the second day!
Thursday---
This is Dave's weird morning off once a month, so I was determined to not let it deter us from our awesome schooling... so we got up and got started at 9:00. HA. It was really 10:30, but we got started okay! :0)
I prodded Hubbie out of bed and he sat with us while we did Bible with the kids and then memory work.
and helped them with their LOVE CHALLENGE pick of the day.
We did FLL (conjunctions, quotation marks and review of adverbs)
writing (Kate did IEW and Matt wrote another Lego episode)
We also continued working on our science- by starting the crossword puzzle.
We read more of Johnny Tremain.
Emily and I started reading Felicity and doing a lapbook on her. I ordered the movie to watch, because no one had it....oh well.
We of course did math, handwriting and Explode the Code. CHECK!
Emily also did a unit on homophones because on Tuesday she asked me if her soul was on her foot-- she got confused when her gymnastics teacher said something about landing on the sole of your feet. SO we learned about homophones! :)
soul- sole
aunt- ant
beat- beet
hare- hair
meat- meet
She also got another book on her chart for LLATL! WE also started the next lessons.
Whewwww... then my decongestant kicked in and I was DONE! :)
FRIDAY
The decongestant I am taking is kicking my bootie! I slept until 10:00 because I took a dose at 8:00. But Dave had the kids get chores done before he left for work at 10:30. I got up, made breakfast, took a picture of our ICE STORM- no snow, just a little ice....
and then I went back to bed, where I stayed and the kids got LOADS of physical activity by playing the Wii.
But we had three awesome days! :)
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Month of Brotherly LOVE...
So this whole month we are focusing on loving our siblings. This is needed as we have been having some *ahem* issues. I do not want the kids to respond to each other the way the WORLD tells us siblings have to respond to each other. IT is a lie from the devil!
Brothers and Sisters can be friends---- it doesn't mean that their relationship will be perfect, but they can learn to love each other and put others before themselves! This is really what it is about... their character is who they are when NO one is watching! Well this starts with your family. I mean it is easy to be nice to a child who just comes to play for awhile, but your brother and sister--- the world tells us NO way!
So enter the book:
Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends...by Sarah, Stephen and Grace Mally
We started reading the book on Wednesday...
I made worksheets to go with what we were doing and I am going to make cards of them to go in our memory box so that we will continually be going over them.
I had the kids take turn reading and we got through the whole chapter. We would stop and talk about what we were reading. I then had the kids take the self evaluation.
In addition to reading this book over the next few weeks is our LOVE CHALLENGE!
I have taken 3 jars and written each child's name on one. Inside the jar are "DEEDS" for the kids to do.
Pretty much think The LOVE DARE.. which is what I based this off of!
I wanted the kids to actively be thinking about DOING for each other, to put their brother/ sister needs above their own. The kids were pretty excited to be honest. I am hoping that it will last through out the challenge and of course spur them on to better loving relationships afterwards!
Brothers and Sisters can be friends---- it doesn't mean that their relationship will be perfect, but they can learn to love each other and put others before themselves! This is really what it is about... their character is who they are when NO one is watching! Well this starts with your family. I mean it is easy to be nice to a child who just comes to play for awhile, but your brother and sister--- the world tells us NO way!
So enter the book:
Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends...by Sarah, Stephen and Grace Mally
We started reading the book on Wednesday...
I made worksheets to go with what we were doing and I am going to make cards of them to go in our memory box so that we will continually be going over them.
I had the kids take turn reading and we got through the whole chapter. We would stop and talk about what we were reading. I then had the kids take the self evaluation.
I have taken 3 jars and written each child's name on one. Inside the jar are "DEEDS" for the kids to do.
Pretty much think The LOVE DARE.. which is what I based this off of!
I wanted the kids to actively be thinking about DOING for each other, to put their brother/ sister needs above their own. The kids were pretty excited to be honest. I am hoping that it will last through out the challenge and of course spur them on to better loving relationships afterwards!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
The Groundhog Day story... Oh yes I did!
So a few years ago (2007), Amy and I decided to have Groundhog Day party. Amy planned all these activities.. it was GREAT! We had asked NO one to watch the news that morning so that we could unveil if there was 6 more weeks to winner. So after crafts and activities I got out the computer and brought up the YouTube video of good old Punxsutawney Phil Watch 2007. I honestly did NOT look very closely, this is NOT a mistake I have made again! So anyway, we set the kids up around the laptop and started it and the moms kind of moved back and were of course doing what moms do.. CHATTING. About 10 seconds into the video I realized something was terrible wrong.. but not until the kids had watched at least 5 seconds more. Oh yes...just watch.
In all honesty and just keeping it real we DID watch the video two more times before we watched the real one! But it was one of my more embarrassing moments.
Well this year we had no such incidents. We watched the REAL Punxsutawney Phil.
But not before we made some predictions...
HE SAYS SPRING is near.. which is hard to believe with our 21 degree weather today!
We did some activity sheets and just keeping it real again... it felt just a little bit boring in comparison!
What is your embarrassing teacher moment!
In all honesty and just keeping it real we DID watch the video two more times before we watched the real one! But it was one of my more embarrassing moments.
Well this year we had no such incidents. We watched the REAL Punxsutawney Phil.
But not before we made some predictions...
We did some activity sheets and just keeping it real again... it felt just a little bit boring in comparison!
What is your embarrassing teacher moment!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Okay...the craftiness continues- Paint chip art
So I saw THIS that was made over on the cheap by a crafty blogger who had see it on a blog... who had probably seen it on a blog, but I am only going back two links!
So here is a shot of it made over from Life Crafts and Whatever, which is where I saw it...
this is the one at MODGE PODGE ROCKS....and I like the darkness on the sides a little better...
So I going to make one. I think I will like it a lot and make more than one, but the first one is going to be a birthday present! I know DARING! Anyway, Deanna's bday is just around the corner and I am going to make one for her, but I am going to include a few of her wedding shots too!
So Hubbie and I went to Lowe's, I picked out paint chip colors that were kind of muted,
I also used the browns and golds and blues of her wedding.
We paid more for a higher grade plywood. If I am going to make more in the future I can buy a whole sheet of plywood and get it cut into the size I need, making this project even cheaper.
I got a spray adhesive... I am hoping brand doesn't matter because I got the cheaper one and I figured with all the layers of modge podge it would be fine...
I got brushes, which I had some but went ahead and bought a few more.
And I got a stain, I choose Ebony, which is what both the above blogs used, I liked that it was dark.
I don't usually shout the cost of my presents from the rooftop but I am going to today! With all the supplies we bought, it was 27.00. I have modge podge at home and am hoping I have enough! The stain and spray adhesive will obviously last me MANY projects! The board like I said before will end up being cheaper if I do it a different way.. I just wanted to attempt the project first! Oh and the paint chips were..FREE!
I have to get a few of her wedding pictures printed, so that will be a few dollars at the most!
Step one:
sand the sides of your board and paint. I chose to use brown paint which I already had.
Step two:
figure out the pattern you want for the paint chips, lay them all out. Life, crafts and Whatever made the point of making sure to number the cards because her cards got out of order at some point.
Step three:
spray adhesive a few at a time and lay on board.. repeat until finished. this was unsaid on the other blogs, but our spray adhesive said to spray both sides (the board and the paint chip) in order to get a permanent bond) so we did a light spray on the board and also sprayed the backs of the paint chips. I was able to after placing the paint chips on the board still move them around for a minute of two, which was nice.
Step four:
cover with modge podge.. let dry and do a total of three layers of modge podge.
Step Five:
paint strips of the stain on, wipe it off and repeat several times, let dry. Again focus on areas that you think need more stain, making sure to get in the cracks between paint chips.
Step six:
ask your wonderful husband to attach hardware- but only buy it so that the receiver of the gift can decide if they want to use it! :)
ENJOY--- or give away as a birthday present to enjoy!
I do like it better without the pictures and will be making more.. it looks better in person. I still would like it a lot darker around the edges and might email the second blogger to see how she did it. I also am not completely in love with the pattern, although I like the colors.
BTW.. Deanna liked it and requested two more! :) YEAH!
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