Weekly Wrap-Up: A Blizzard

Yes, you read that right.  A blizzard!  I'm not talking about the Dairy Queen type either.  I know that for most people our snowstorm would not necessarily be classified as a "blizzard", but anything above 2 inches constitutes a blizzard in my book. I think we got around 7 inches of snow, which was about 7 inches too much for me.  It really caught us off guard.  First, we weren't supposed to get anything until Wednesday evening and we woke up to 2 inches of snow.  Second, I never thought we would loose power, although snow + heavy wind + falling trees = no power.  (Note to self...always have cell phone charged.) Finally, never let your hubby leave for work in the middle of a blizzard because it will take him 4 hours to go 13 miles.  Anyways, we all survived (thanks to a generator). I will end by saying...I HATE SNOW!

My kids, however, love the snow.

 Watching the snow

 

Making a tiny snowman all by themselves!

 

Dallas watching through the door.

  Making snow angels.

 

 

 

So, when there is a blizzard and you have no power...what do you do?  School!  Yes, we did our lesson even though we didn't have any power. 

 

 

 

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

 

 

Our bible lesson this week focused on how we are God's handiwork.  Just like he created the bee to do a certain job, God created us for a certain purpose too.  We learned about bee's and watched The Bee Movie (which was a very cute movie by the way). It amazes me that God created the littlest insects to do such big things.  A bee's work is amazing!  I think I am learning more than the kids. 

 

 

We also continued with reading.  Kristen is doing so good and has completed unit one.  She read another book and she was so excited.  Next week we will start unit two and I think she is actually getting excited about reading.  She is still doing very good with math.  It is definitely her strongest subject.  I am excited about starting some new things next year.  I think Kristen will really enjoy it.  Lauren is still plugging away at her sounds.  We focused on learning the sound for letter E and as much as I would like to say she has learned it....well, she has not.  So, this week we will focus on the letter E....AGAIN. 

 

I will leave you with a picture of Kristen and all of her reading buddies. I think she could use a few more.

 





Wordless Wednesday

Weekly Wrap-Up: A SUCCESS!

I had every intention of starting my blogging back up last week and doing a much overdue weekly wrap-up.  However, by the time Friday rolled around I was just so happy the week was over that the last thing I wanted to do was remember any part of it.  Hmmm, how would I describe it...extremely difficult.  I never thought teaching reading would be so hard.  I am not sure what exactly I expected, but tears and frustration (for both of us) was not what I had envisioned.  Needless to say, we both needed time-outs and at the end of the week we all had adopted Lauren's general whiny, grumbling mood when it came to school.  I wanted school time to be fun and exciting, so I regrouped over the weekend and realized that I had so much to be thankful for.  Instead of focusing on the struggles we were having, I needed to focus on all of the things we had accomplished.  This week started with a better attitude on my part, which made all of the difference in the world.

 

Go to the ants you sluggard, consider its ways and be wise.

Proverbs 6:6

 

 

Our bible lesson this week was from Proverbs 6:6.  What we learned: we should be hardworking like the ants.  Not having to be told what to do, but just doing it because that is the right thing to do.  How many times in our house do I hear, "But I didn't get it out."  It seems that when it is time to clean up, all of the toys have made it onto the floor all by themselves!  Lauren actually did a good job picking up things she did not get out.  She helped pick up the DVD's, games and coloring books Dallas decided to make a mess of and that is something to be praised because that little boy can sure make a mess!

 

 

 

We also learned many things about ants too.  I never knew ants didn't sleep!  We read several stories about ants and did some crafts.  Kristen also started a new math curriculum last week and she ROCKS in math.  She is already on page 45!  She is learning about money and telling time.  It is getting a little harder for her, but she is catching on.  Lauren is working on getting all her letters on the chica chica boom boom tree.  She already knows the upper case letters of A-D and the sounds.  It is going to be a long journey for us, but hopefully she will know them all by September.  I see a lot of progress from just last September, so I am hopeful our kindergarten year with her will be successful.  I guess I am learning how to find my inner patience with Kristen, because I am definitely going to need it with Lauren.  As for reading.  Well, I think I have learned a lot more than Kristen has.  The most important thing I have learned is:  Frustration does not make anyone learn any faster.  It doesn't matter if you say it louder.  If it doesn't make sense....it doesn't make sense.  I have learned that time outs are neccessary for success.  I also found out that Paul and I make a pretty good team.  When I was frustrated and ready to throw in the towel, he saved the day by having the patience I had ran out of and worked with Kristen even after a hard day of working.  Kristen has since read two books and has learned how to sound them out and put all of the sounds together.  So, I leave you with Kristen's reading debut.

 

 



 

Proud Momma Moment

Yesterday Lauren actually made me cry while doing our bible lesson.  This doesn't happen very often...actually it has never happened.  I was just so proud of her that I couldn't contain myself.  I'll give you a little background so you will know just how special it was.  Even though Lauren has made a lot of progress over the years she is still a little behind.  While she has surprised us with her progress and hit milestones we never thought she would; her overall development is not where it should be.  I have been trying to encourage her to stay in the lines while coloring.  She is just now starting to develop some control over her pencil/crayon. 

On Tuesday we were doing a review of our bible lessons.  We were talking about creation and I had the girls draw pictures in order to help me re-tell the story.  I gave Kristen the harder pictures and pretty much was giving Lauren the pictures where scribbles would be acceptable. Here was our conversation prior to the picture drawing.

Me: So, in the beginning God said let there be light.  What do you think that looked like?
Lauren: Bright
Me: Can you draw me a picture of what you think the light looked like?
Lauren: Yeah, Yeah
Me: What color crayon do you think you should use?
Lauren: Orange (we did end up using a yellow one)
Me: Draw me a picture of the light God created

While I was talking to Kristen about what she would be drawing, I glanced over at Lauren and she was concentrating very hard and very slowly drawing a sun.  She has NEVER drew anything without help.  This was the first time and she was actually, all on her own, drawing the most beautiful little sun I have ever seen. Of course, Kristen then asked if I was going to cry because her earth was so pretty.  I said yes.  I was crying because both of them made such beautiful pictures.

Today I was really tired so my mind was not functioning as sharply as it usually does.  We were reviewing our creation memory verse and....well, here is how the conversation went.

Me: What was our verse about creation.  Genesis 1:1. God said
(I paused to let them complete it. Kristen was looking at me very confused.)
Me: Let there be
Kristen: Genesis 1:1 is In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth not God said, Let there be light.

She was right!  Another proud Momma moment.

Happy 1st Birthday Dallas

 

 

Dallas is ONE!  I cannot believe it.  He has blessed our family so much over the past year.  I can't believe he is almost walking, but that's what happens when they grow up.  He is in to everything!  I can't tell you how many times the DVD's have been taken off the shelf or how many times he has pulled himself up on the end table and stolen the remote.  I love his cute little smile, his scrunchy "I can't really be in trouble" face, his cute little hands and chubby little feet, his belly laugh...well, just about everything about him I love.  Except his fussing and crying, but even that is cute sometimes.  He is a Mommas boy and his Momma loves him very much.  While I wish he wouldn't grow so fast, I am looking forward to being able to see him accomplish many more firsts.  He is such a lovable little boy and I am so blessed that God chose me to be his mother.  Happy 1st Birthday Dallas!

Dual Birthday Party

This was the first year that I had to plan two birthday's in one.  It would have been easier if it were for two boys or two girls.  But why do easy? I didn't know if I should make one cake for both kids or separate cakes?  Do you do one theme that is unisex for both or their own separate themes?  If one is a pink theme and one is a blue theme what color table cloth to do you get?  Do you buy two packs of party hats and blowouts (one for each theme)?  That's a lot of party hats and blowouts! Anyways, you see my confusion. 

Well, everything worked out and things started coming together all at the last minute.  I made two cakes.  Both themes had blue in them so I went with a blue table cloth.  We only bought one pack of blowouts (for Kristen's theme), and one pack of party hats (for Dallas' theme).  At the end of the day the party was a success and we ended up with a lot of cake left over. 

 Kristen's princess birthday cake

 

Dallas' turtle birthday cake

 

 Kristen and her "dog". She has talked about this dog and kept asking if she would be getting it.

 

 



 Her Doc McStuffins doctor's kit.

 

 



 Dallas checking out his toy. 

 

 

Dallas playing with his new toy.

 

My 6 year old birthday girl.

 

Blowing out her princess candles.

 

"Why is everyone looking at me and singing? And why don't I have any clothes on?"

(Also the "before" picture)

And the "after".

He had green icing up his nose and in his ear.

Happy 6th Birthday Kristen

Wow...six years! I never knew six years could go by so quickly. It is very hard for me to believe that my baby is now a little girl. She has grown so much over the last year. I really do wish I could stop time. Kristen is such a sweet little girl with a big heart.  She loves to learn and still gets excited when it's "school time". She loves listening to music and dancing. She likes playing outside with Lauren and "planting her garden". She is such a big helper and keeps Dallas entertained when I am busy. She loves books and going to the library. She even makes her own books. Her favorite books right now are the GiGi, God's Little Princess books. Her favorite movie is Barbie, The Princess and the Popstar. Her favorite television show is Doc McStuffins. She loves fruit and yogurt and would eat them for every meal. Her favorite thing to wear is a dress, as long as it isn't itchy. Her favorite game to play is I Spy. Her favorite saying is "Well, that's awkward", even though she really has no idea what that means.   I am so very very very blessed that God chose me to be her mother. She makes me so proud.