So, today I ditched all plans I had for Jaden's school work and
we were spontaneous and had so much fun. I am so sorry to say this,
lol, but all I could think of when we were learning about what we did is
the song by Brad Paisley, "Camouflage". I love the part of the song,
which I actually used as the title of this note: ""Designed by Mother
Nature and by God It's CAMOUFLAGE, CAMOUFLAGE". I rather like the part
too: "The only thing as patriotic As the old red, white and blue
It's green and gray and black And brown and tan all rolled into
Camouflage, camouflage".
Anyways, back to our day. It
was a totally neat day with Jaden, even with that song rolling through
my head (which by the way it does make me laugh)! I had originally
planned to have him do some work out of his workbooks and I wanted to
throw in a fun activity too. I was thinking I was going to do something
with Science today. I came across a neat Science idea for teaching
camouflage, and even better was the fact that I had all the supplies on
hand to put the Science idea together and it took very little effort to
put it together. Also, I managed to keep Kya and Sierra happy while
teaching him, which is a bonus!
I set out to find yellow, black
and red construction paper. I grabbed two pieces of yellow and one of
black and red. Using one piece of each color of paper, I cut out a
bunch of rectangles (you save one of the pieces of yellow for a
background which represents the idea of camouflage). After cutting them
out, I placed the yellow background in front of Jaden and arranged the
same number of different color rectangles on the yellow piece of paper.
Then, I set the timer in the kitchen for 10 seconds, focused in my
camera, pushed the start button and raced out to the dining room to take
some pictures of Jaden in action. The point of this Science idea was
to have Jaden pick up rectangles one at a time and he was to pick up as
many as he could in 10 seconds. Typically, ones eyes will be drawn to
the red and black rectangles first over the yellow because the yellow
rectangles are "camouflaged".
Jaden had a blast! After that, I
made up a graph and had him chart how many rectangles of each color he
picked out. I also had him total up the amount of rectangles he picked
up (hooray for getting Math and Science in so far out of this little
Camouflage Science Idea)!
Oh, did I forget to mention I found
coloring sheets online that were bugs? He colored a caterpillar, a
dobson fly, a cicada, and he also has a katydid to color. How is that
for art? We also started this whole lesson out by talking about what
kind of clothes his Daddy wears to work- CAMOUFLAGE- and how God created
different animals to have the ability to blend into their surroundings
to protect themselves (yay for Bible too). We spent time talking about
why animals are camouflaged and why people in the military wear
camouflage.
After graphing, I had plans to have him do some
Language Arts. He told me he was going to make an animal out of the
pieces of construction paper I cut. So, of course, I got him set up
with more construction paper and a glue stick and let him express his
creativity. He made a lion.
It was such a fun day! Jaden got
to be creative, we got Science, Art, Math, Bible, and Language Arts out
of one simple Science idea on camouflage and Kya and Sierra were happy
the whole time because I gave them crayons, a coloring sheet, and their
own little camouflage background with rectangles too and all of this got
finished just in time for a nap for Kya and Sierra! :) What an awesome
day! And, yes, I did go listen to the song Camouflage, by Brad
Paisley!
*The Camouflage Science Idea was taken from: https://www.kinderplans.com/p/89/science-kindergarten-preschool*
Zippity, Zippity, Here We Go Again
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Steps
As I am sitting here typing this, it is 6:34 am. I was up at 4:45 am this morning. I am not an early morning riser typically. I don't mind getting up and getting ready in the morning if I have somewhere to be (okay, that might depend solely on the place I am going). If it is a fun and exciting place to go, I am all for getting up, getting ready, and getting out the door as quickly as possible. If it is to go to doctors office or somewhere of the likes, yeah, I am just fine with staying in bed. Today I found myself waking up with my husband.
Typically, I do not have a problem with spending some time with him cuddling and then rolling right over and going back to sleep. Waking up between 8-9am suits me much better. Today I was restless, I tossed and turned and I finally just gave up and got up out of bed. My mind is normally filled with what feels like a zillion thoughts running at once, so this morning was no different than any other morning. Well, with the exception of my mind working overtime this morning. I had so much going through my head and a list a mile long of things I want to get done today that it was just impossible to even try to go back to sleep. I got up and managed to get some laundry folded and put away and I got another load put in the washer. I also put some dishes away and then Kya woke up. Thankfully, after some cuddles with Mommy and a little bit of crying, she fell back asleep.
I must interject here by saying, I absolutely love and respect my husband for waking up at around 4:20 am five days a week (on one weekend a month he does it for seven days), to go to his job and provide for our family. I know without a doubt by the end of this day I am going to be dragging and I know he feels the same way after each day is finished. Yet, he continues to do it because he loves his family and he knows God gave him the responsibility to provide for us. Thank you for doing that for us Rick!
Back to this waking up early thing. I was struck with a rather strange thought this morning. It has to do with the steps in our house leading up to our second floor. If you could see them now, and much to my shame you will soon because I took a picture of them, you would see that the bottom steps are filled with things just waiting to be taken upstairs. Call this a bad habit or a good one (I would probably be more inclined to say a bad one because of safety reasons), that is the place I temporarily put a lot of things that need to find their way back upstairs.
Let me stop here by asking a question: Have you ever thought about how much of an impact you have in your children's lives in every area? A lot of us as parents know that the greatest person to impact a child's life is his or her parents. We know how important it is for us to be a good model in the way we speak to each other. We all know they imitate many of our actions too (sometimes we wish it wasn't the case when we have that first revelation that our child learned some of the "bad things" he or she does from us). I must admit I have never really thought about how they imitate our actions in so many different areas of our lives- some may be trivial and some more important than others. But, due to an experience last night with Jaden, I had a thought this morning- modeling things to our children goes beyond showing manners, it goes beyond showing love to each other, beyond being kind to one another, beyond asking and showing forgiveness, beyond helping one another. It can even be shown in the way we run our house and how organized we are in it.
Now, I am going to stop right here and say I am not blessed with the ability to keep every area of my home organized at all times. Sadly, I must say I can't even say half of the time I have it organized. But, for me that comes with the territory of having three children- and when you have multiples- yeah, I quickly learned I am one person and I can only do so much. I am trying to get better at it and I am trying to get things out of my house (and slowly it is happening). I desire to have that happen so I can spend less time taking care of things and spend more time with my husband and children. I desire for a balance in all this too. I don't want to find myself going to an extreme by making my husband, children, or I feel like we can't live in the house and have fun. Yet, I have spent some time organizing different areas of my house and it is amazing how much better it has made me feel. It is hard to explain, but it makes me feel like at least some of my life is not as chaotic.
Back to the steps in our house. Last night, I asked Jaden to take his computer up to his room and put it away. He walked over to the steps and placed it on one. I might add he was also getting ready to walk up the stairs to go to his room so he could get dressed for bed. I heard Rick ask Jaden, "What did Mommy ask you to do and did you do it"? I was listening to this exchange between the two of them and Jaden was able to repeat back to Rick exactly what I asked him to do. Rick then told him he needed to listen to me and take the computer up to his room. I asked Jaden if he was going up to his room. He told me, "Yes". Then I asked him, "Well, don't you think it is a good idea to take it up now since you are going up there anyways"? He told me, "Yes". I could almost laugh about this all now as I am typing this out, except there is a lesson to be learned here and it is one that my five year old is teaching me.
There are so many more occassions that have come to my mind where I have told Jaden to put something away and he has followed my actions and rather than taking it upstairs he places the item on one of the steps. He then tells me, "I will take it upstairs later or I will take it up the next time I go up". Yeah, um right, I know him very well. He will forget and not even "see" it sitting there. It will not make it up to his room unless I make him listen to me and follow through at that moment when I ask him to take something up to his room. At this point, this is where I am humbled. He will usually give me a "reason" as to why he can't take it up. I usually only have to ask him one more time to please take it up to his room and he will do it. I am fully aware that he could look at me and say, "But, Mommy, you put things on the steps too and you don't take them up right away" (those of you who know Jaden well know that day will probably likely come soon because he has no trouble saying at all what he is thinking).
I just want to interject here that I love Jaden for so many reasons, but one particular reason stands out in my mind in regards to this stairs habit of mine. (And really, it did start out with good intentions behind it: my reason for doing it was to save myself some trips and carry everything up at once). *I admit though it has probably gotten a little out of hand.* Back to why I love Jaden though- recently, I remember getting tired of all the things on the steps so I put everything away. When I got downstairs, Jaden looked at me and he said, "Good job Mommy for putting everything away on the steps". Yes, I must admit after I told him thank you, I did laugh. In my mind, something like that should not matter to him, but I have been drilling in his head he needs to put his stuff away (this does at least confirm to me that he does listen to me about this most of the time). I am also realizing how much he needs to know that he is making me happy when he does put things away, especially when he is doing this without me even having to tell him. As parents, it is so easy to focus on "negative" behaviors and forget how important it is to praise our children for the positive behaviors we see them doing (maybe I am the only Mom who easily forgets this). It is definitely an area I need to work on! He is a child who has good intentions and I am realizing through this just how much of an influence I do have over my children- in every area of their life. I am realizing that just like I make mistakes and need time and room to grow, he likewise needs time and room to grow. My expectations of him often times are set to high.
I can see in the simple things, like modeling the action of putting things back where they belong, that my area of influence over my children is great. I am thankful for a son who teaches me these little things. I don't always like to acknowledge that he learned this thing and that thing from me- especially my habits that are less than great. But, I am so thankful he has an innocent way of teaching me areas I need to work on (at least for now). I have a long way to go in this area of organizing, but I truly do hope that when I go to put that next item on the step I think twice. Or, at the very least, if it is not safe to take it upstairs right away (and sometimes it just is not with how much Kya and Sierra are on the move now), I hope I remember that it should not be sitting there for days at a time. Now I must end by saying, I do like how the empty steps look (I took some time during the writing of this to put the things that were on the steps away).
Typically, I do not have a problem with spending some time with him cuddling and then rolling right over and going back to sleep. Waking up between 8-9am suits me much better. Today I was restless, I tossed and turned and I finally just gave up and got up out of bed. My mind is normally filled with what feels like a zillion thoughts running at once, so this morning was no different than any other morning. Well, with the exception of my mind working overtime this morning. I had so much going through my head and a list a mile long of things I want to get done today that it was just impossible to even try to go back to sleep. I got up and managed to get some laundry folded and put away and I got another load put in the washer. I also put some dishes away and then Kya woke up. Thankfully, after some cuddles with Mommy and a little bit of crying, she fell back asleep.
I must interject here by saying, I absolutely love and respect my husband for waking up at around 4:20 am five days a week (on one weekend a month he does it for seven days), to go to his job and provide for our family. I know without a doubt by the end of this day I am going to be dragging and I know he feels the same way after each day is finished. Yet, he continues to do it because he loves his family and he knows God gave him the responsibility to provide for us. Thank you for doing that for us Rick!
Back to this waking up early thing. I was struck with a rather strange thought this morning. It has to do with the steps in our house leading up to our second floor. If you could see them now, and much to my shame you will soon because I took a picture of them, you would see that the bottom steps are filled with things just waiting to be taken upstairs. Call this a bad habit or a good one (I would probably be more inclined to say a bad one because of safety reasons), that is the place I temporarily put a lot of things that need to find their way back upstairs.
Let me stop here by asking a question: Have you ever thought about how much of an impact you have in your children's lives in every area? A lot of us as parents know that the greatest person to impact a child's life is his or her parents. We know how important it is for us to be a good model in the way we speak to each other. We all know they imitate many of our actions too (sometimes we wish it wasn't the case when we have that first revelation that our child learned some of the "bad things" he or she does from us). I must admit I have never really thought about how they imitate our actions in so many different areas of our lives- some may be trivial and some more important than others. But, due to an experience last night with Jaden, I had a thought this morning- modeling things to our children goes beyond showing manners, it goes beyond showing love to each other, beyond being kind to one another, beyond asking and showing forgiveness, beyond helping one another. It can even be shown in the way we run our house and how organized we are in it.
Now, I am going to stop right here and say I am not blessed with the ability to keep every area of my home organized at all times. Sadly, I must say I can't even say half of the time I have it organized. But, for me that comes with the territory of having three children- and when you have multiples- yeah, I quickly learned I am one person and I can only do so much. I am trying to get better at it and I am trying to get things out of my house (and slowly it is happening). I desire to have that happen so I can spend less time taking care of things and spend more time with my husband and children. I desire for a balance in all this too. I don't want to find myself going to an extreme by making my husband, children, or I feel like we can't live in the house and have fun. Yet, I have spent some time organizing different areas of my house and it is amazing how much better it has made me feel. It is hard to explain, but it makes me feel like at least some of my life is not as chaotic.
Back to the steps in our house. Last night, I asked Jaden to take his computer up to his room and put it away. He walked over to the steps and placed it on one. I might add he was also getting ready to walk up the stairs to go to his room so he could get dressed for bed. I heard Rick ask Jaden, "What did Mommy ask you to do and did you do it"? I was listening to this exchange between the two of them and Jaden was able to repeat back to Rick exactly what I asked him to do. Rick then told him he needed to listen to me and take the computer up to his room. I asked Jaden if he was going up to his room. He told me, "Yes". Then I asked him, "Well, don't you think it is a good idea to take it up now since you are going up there anyways"? He told me, "Yes". I could almost laugh about this all now as I am typing this out, except there is a lesson to be learned here and it is one that my five year old is teaching me.
There are so many more occassions that have come to my mind where I have told Jaden to put something away and he has followed my actions and rather than taking it upstairs he places the item on one of the steps. He then tells me, "I will take it upstairs later or I will take it up the next time I go up". Yeah, um right, I know him very well. He will forget and not even "see" it sitting there. It will not make it up to his room unless I make him listen to me and follow through at that moment when I ask him to take something up to his room. At this point, this is where I am humbled. He will usually give me a "reason" as to why he can't take it up. I usually only have to ask him one more time to please take it up to his room and he will do it. I am fully aware that he could look at me and say, "But, Mommy, you put things on the steps too and you don't take them up right away" (those of you who know Jaden well know that day will probably likely come soon because he has no trouble saying at all what he is thinking).
I just want to interject here that I love Jaden for so many reasons, but one particular reason stands out in my mind in regards to this stairs habit of mine. (And really, it did start out with good intentions behind it: my reason for doing it was to save myself some trips and carry everything up at once). *I admit though it has probably gotten a little out of hand.* Back to why I love Jaden though- recently, I remember getting tired of all the things on the steps so I put everything away. When I got downstairs, Jaden looked at me and he said, "Good job Mommy for putting everything away on the steps". Yes, I must admit after I told him thank you, I did laugh. In my mind, something like that should not matter to him, but I have been drilling in his head he needs to put his stuff away (this does at least confirm to me that he does listen to me about this most of the time). I am also realizing how much he needs to know that he is making me happy when he does put things away, especially when he is doing this without me even having to tell him. As parents, it is so easy to focus on "negative" behaviors and forget how important it is to praise our children for the positive behaviors we see them doing (maybe I am the only Mom who easily forgets this). It is definitely an area I need to work on! He is a child who has good intentions and I am realizing through this just how much of an influence I do have over my children- in every area of their life. I am realizing that just like I make mistakes and need time and room to grow, he likewise needs time and room to grow. My expectations of him often times are set to high.
I can see in the simple things, like modeling the action of putting things back where they belong, that my area of influence over my children is great. I am thankful for a son who teaches me these little things. I don't always like to acknowledge that he learned this thing and that thing from me- especially my habits that are less than great. But, I am so thankful he has an innocent way of teaching me areas I need to work on (at least for now). I have a long way to go in this area of organizing, but I truly do hope that when I go to put that next item on the step I think twice. Or, at the very least, if it is not safe to take it upstairs right away (and sometimes it just is not with how much Kya and Sierra are on the move now), I hope I remember that it should not be sitting there for days at a time. Now I must end by saying, I do like how the empty steps look (I took some time during the writing of this to put the things that were on the steps away).
Friday, August 10, 2012
Oh, Dr. Pepper, How I loathe (I mean love) you!
Raise your hand if you love Dr. Pepper! If you could see me now, I would be one of those people that have my hand raised (I know I shouldn't, it is just plain bad for you with no nutrional value what.so.ever). But, it is my favorite soda, and I can at least say I have come a long way and have cut back in how much soda I drink. Anyways, my love for Dr. Pepper was close to coming to a halt and it could very well have if not for my husband. You know those days you have, the ones where you have set out to do this, this, and this, and the day is going really well and then all of the sudden one "bad" thing happens and it pretty much erases your "good" day. That one "bad" thing quickly puts you in a funk. I recently read about a friend of mine who has topped my list with how many "bad" things happened in her day (hope you don't mind Tina for me referencing you). You read about someone's day and you feel sympathy, but then you are just like, "Oh my goodness if I had that kind of day I would just cry or go hide in bed". On the other hand, there is a part of you that also just wants to laugh because really now could your day get any worse! And, I am so glad to see that this friend of mine did end up just being able to sit and laugh when these "bad" things just kept happening! Even more great was to see a fellow friend of ours pointing out the "good" in some of her circumstances!
You see, I recently had the day where things were going good. My day was manageable with the kids, I was excited because Rick was getting home early and we would be able to have more time to spend with him, we had figured out what was for supper (a frozen meal I had taken out of the freezer- hooray for me for taking the time to get more organized in the meal planning area) and all that was left to do was go somewhere and buy some Dr. Pepper so I could make up some sauce for the Dr. Pepper Spaghetti we were having for supper. (That might sound gross, and I was skeptical at first, but wow, that spaghetti is good)! So anyways, Rick said, "Let's walk up to Rutter's". I said, "Okay". But, the more I got thinking about it, we would be walking along busy roads, some without sidewalks, and I was feeling a little uneasy about that with Jaden. So, we decided we would walk up to a Turkey Hill by our house. Well, we are doing good- children are dressed, Kya and Sierra are in their cars we push to take them on walks, Jaden is begging to push one of them, we are ready to go. While we were in the store, the only thing that could have landed us in trouble was if we did not notice that Kya had managed to grab hold of an orange while we were paying and gathering up our drinks! Whew- good thing Rick caught that one! We start walking back home and get everyone in the house. Another successful and enjoyable walk for us. I happily go along getting ready to make supper (and I am rather happy that it didn't require me to do anything other than making up a quick sauce for the spaghetti- I am loving this freezer cooking idea!).
Well, I go to open up the Dr. Pepper and at this point some of you will have no problem guessing at this point what happened. If you can't guess- just think soda and MOVEMENT. :) Imagine my surprise when I opened up the top. All that could be heard from the other room was a loud release of displeasure from me. I.was.NOT.happy! Rick asked me what happened and I said, "I was not thinking this through when I decided it would be a good idea to go for a walk and carry a bottle of soda". I was anything but loving Dr. Pepper at the moment. In fact, I was about ready to throw the Dr. Pepper out (looking back really now- what did the Dr. Pepper do and all I can say is that Dr. Pepper had my husband to thank for not getting chucked in the trash can). :) The Dr. Pepper was just waiting to be released- and released it was- all over my stove, my socks, my shorts, my legs, and the floor. Rick came out and helped me clean up the Dr. Pepper and he says (and I must preface this by saying at the time I was not exactly receptive of his view on this, lol). But, back to what he said, "You almost made it over to the gate and at least now we have a clean floor". Yeah, you can ask him how I responded to that. And after my response, his last response, was, "You complete me" (a long standing joke between him and me, meant to make me laugh- which I don't remember now if it did work or not). I might add in the midst of this too, Jaden comes out and starts asking questions which added to my frustration. A great reminder that man sometimes in the midst of my frustrations, I need to be more mindful that a more gentle approach needs to be given to him when I am in the midst of something frustrating and he is merely being curious or really does care that I am okay when something like this is going on.
Looking back, how much we need a different perspective when things like this happen. I have a husband who quickly ran to my aid. In the midst of it, (I found it anything but funny), but he was trying to see the best in the situation. And, though it tends to be a joke between Rick and I, he really does truly complete me. When he can't see the good in a situation, I try to find the positive in it for him; likewise, he was doing the same for me. So, in the end, though that Dr. Pepper was not my most favorite soda at the time and it was close to being chucked in the trash can (at the risk of ruining supper- man I am glad Rick intervened!), looking back now I think a lot of times we need the right perspective on these kind of things. If you look hard enough you can usually find at least one good thing in the midst of what one would look on as a "bad" thing. Ha, ha, ha, and just now I saw the humor in this because this could eventually be a good Science lesson for Jaden (though I might leave that one for Rick and Jaden to do). :)
You see, I recently had the day where things were going good. My day was manageable with the kids, I was excited because Rick was getting home early and we would be able to have more time to spend with him, we had figured out what was for supper (a frozen meal I had taken out of the freezer- hooray for me for taking the time to get more organized in the meal planning area) and all that was left to do was go somewhere and buy some Dr. Pepper so I could make up some sauce for the Dr. Pepper Spaghetti we were having for supper. (That might sound gross, and I was skeptical at first, but wow, that spaghetti is good)! So anyways, Rick said, "Let's walk up to Rutter's". I said, "Okay". But, the more I got thinking about it, we would be walking along busy roads, some without sidewalks, and I was feeling a little uneasy about that with Jaden. So, we decided we would walk up to a Turkey Hill by our house. Well, we are doing good- children are dressed, Kya and Sierra are in their cars we push to take them on walks, Jaden is begging to push one of them, we are ready to go. While we were in the store, the only thing that could have landed us in trouble was if we did not notice that Kya had managed to grab hold of an orange while we were paying and gathering up our drinks! Whew- good thing Rick caught that one! We start walking back home and get everyone in the house. Another successful and enjoyable walk for us. I happily go along getting ready to make supper (and I am rather happy that it didn't require me to do anything other than making up a quick sauce for the spaghetti- I am loving this freezer cooking idea!).
Well, I go to open up the Dr. Pepper and at this point some of you will have no problem guessing at this point what happened. If you can't guess- just think soda and MOVEMENT. :) Imagine my surprise when I opened up the top. All that could be heard from the other room was a loud release of displeasure from me. I.was.NOT.happy! Rick asked me what happened and I said, "I was not thinking this through when I decided it would be a good idea to go for a walk and carry a bottle of soda". I was anything but loving Dr. Pepper at the moment. In fact, I was about ready to throw the Dr. Pepper out (looking back really now- what did the Dr. Pepper do and all I can say is that Dr. Pepper had my husband to thank for not getting chucked in the trash can). :) The Dr. Pepper was just waiting to be released- and released it was- all over my stove, my socks, my shorts, my legs, and the floor. Rick came out and helped me clean up the Dr. Pepper and he says (and I must preface this by saying at the time I was not exactly receptive of his view on this, lol). But, back to what he said, "You almost made it over to the gate and at least now we have a clean floor". Yeah, you can ask him how I responded to that. And after my response, his last response, was, "You complete me" (a long standing joke between him and me, meant to make me laugh- which I don't remember now if it did work or not). I might add in the midst of this too, Jaden comes out and starts asking questions which added to my frustration. A great reminder that man sometimes in the midst of my frustrations, I need to be more mindful that a more gentle approach needs to be given to him when I am in the midst of something frustrating and he is merely being curious or really does care that I am okay when something like this is going on.
Looking back, how much we need a different perspective when things like this happen. I have a husband who quickly ran to my aid. In the midst of it, (I found it anything but funny), but he was trying to see the best in the situation. And, though it tends to be a joke between Rick and I, he really does truly complete me. When he can't see the good in a situation, I try to find the positive in it for him; likewise, he was doing the same for me. So, in the end, though that Dr. Pepper was not my most favorite soda at the time and it was close to being chucked in the trash can (at the risk of ruining supper- man I am glad Rick intervened!), looking back now I think a lot of times we need the right perspective on these kind of things. If you look hard enough you can usually find at least one good thing in the midst of what one would look on as a "bad" thing. Ha, ha, ha, and just now I saw the humor in this because this could eventually be a good Science lesson for Jaden (though I might leave that one for Rick and Jaden to do). :)
Monday, July 30, 2012
Just Do It...
Our handsome son giving the babies a kiss |
Our first born daughter |
Our second born daughter |
Our last photo together as a family of three |
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