Remembering Blueberries

I had been meaning to write a review of the Before Five in a Row book that we used last year...

This delightful resource is so helpful if you have little ones in the 2-4 year old age range and want to enrich their learning in a developmentally appropriate way.  It gives ideas on how to develop observation skills and lays a foundation for later critical thinking skills, phonemic awareness, math, art and literature appreciation, etc.

The first half of the book lists several books (including beloved classics like Goodnight Moon, Runaway Bunny and Corduroy) with corresponding activities to make your explorations of the book more rewarding and exciting.  It walks you through everything, gives sample questions to use when dialoging with your toddler/preschooler and shows you what skill the given activity is laying the groundwork for.  I started using this right after I had Treyton.  It was so nice to just grab the book and not have to come up with any ideas on my own. 

The second half of the book lists resources and ideas on making your home an rich learning environment.  It is truly a wealth of information all wrapped up in one tiny book.  There is a section on activities for reading readiness, activities for developing both large motor and small motor skills that are essential in making neural connection and learning how the body works!  If you have ever been at a loss on HOW to play with your child, this section of the book will have you set for hours of fun interaction with your child.

For our book club last week, each child needed to pick out a book that started with the letter 'B'.  I pulled Blueberries for Sal out along with several other books.  Keegan immediately chose this book and started to tell me about reading this last year.

He was only 2.5 years old and I was surprised with how much he remembered.  It was a perfect book for both kids.  At 2.5 years old, Keegan fixated on dropping blueberries into our little buckets with the corresponding sound effects: kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk. 

And of course sampling them, just as Little Sal had...

Xander on the other hand at 4.5 years old, enjoyed lining the berries up and we played around with addition and subtraction as we added more blueberries to his lineup and ate them up!

Oh what fun memories.  I look forward to making some memories with Treyton and some or our favorite books!

Encouragement

Arms get tired.  Perspective grows dim.

The encouraging words from a friend can bring perspective and direct one's eyes upwards again where motivation is renewed to fight the good fight!

(100)This last week  I called my mom to complain about my youngest son.  He is into EVERYTHING, has no fear and I can't afford to blink... There was laughter and empathy (Trey is a mini-me), but then encouragement to stay on course, be consistent and, well, buck-up.

She could have criticized me or pointed out how selfish I was, but instead she inspired me to pursue what is right, even when it is difficult.  She listened to me, but did not feed my complaining.  I calmed down and could hear that Still Small Voice encouraging me, reminding me that my strength comes from Him and that He has called me to the glorious (and sometimes exhausting) task at hand.     

So I continue to throw off the weight and sin that clings so closely.  I don't dwell on it, but instead look to Jesus and think on "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable." (Phil 4:8) and I learn to rejoice in all of the ways He is at work in my life...

And so my list of gratitude continues...

101. a hubby who takes the kids to the park so I can clean. 

102. a quiet hour to clean like a madwoman and enjoy communion with God in the process.  For me, busy hands make for a quiet heart!

103. a prickly-pear margarita shared with hubby.

104. an Opa that takes two bigger boys on a Davey Crockett adventure and a sister who takes "the handful" so hubby and I can have an evening out!

105. friends who come alongside me and pray with me and encourage me!

106. an aunt who is doing incredibly well more than a month after being given only a month to live.

107. cuddle moments with my oldest, while he shares about what God is talking to him about.

108. rainy day hikes with my boys!

109. special looks from hubby that STILL make me weak in the knees.
110. time away from my computer on Thursdays and Sundays.  I am a more attentive child of God, mother and wife because of it.

111. small answers to long-time prayers...  In faith for more!  God is at work and it is exciting!

Saving the Alamo!

After watching the old Davy Crockett Disney movie today, it was interesting to see what the boys fixated on: the Alamo.  So tonight, I'll be brushing up on my Alamo history knowledge so I can explain a little bit more about that tomorrow.

We're still working on making an alliance with all three.  It works much better if we fight an imaginary enemy than little brother.

Speaking of Treyton.  I did not dress him like that this morning.  He stripped this afternoon and found his jammie pants and insisted on going for the mismatched long-john look.

I love how shooting sound effects make for great kissy faces! :)

Tracking...

Spring is most definitely here in the southwest.  It seems so strange to think of it still being bitterly cold in other parts of the country.

Because our weather is now in the mid 70's I'm swinging in to full "outside" time mode before it gets too hot...

This dove-tailed nicely with the start of our unit on frontiersmen and tracking!  We added a little southwest flair by reading a book my mom had given me a few years ago: Who Pooped in the Sonoran Desert: Scat and Tracks for Kids!  I don't know if it's a boy thing or if they have my biology bent already, but the boys have long been obsessed with this book. 

We then put into practice what we had learned about identifying tracks and scat by setting out for a hike!

I've been wanting to do this for months and gradually built up for this moment by taking a couple of short hikes with 'reinforcements' - aka other adult help!  With the success of those hiking trips, I confidently set out on my own with three little boys, water, the Ergo and my camera, of course.

Am I crazy or what?

I've decided flying solo is not my preferred method at this stage, but we all survived and I only packed ONE child out on my back!  Ironically, the 3 year old wasn't the other one begging to be carried out...

For the most part, Treyton - our wild man, stayed close.

We had fun exploring a wash.  It was peppered with animal tracks and then the boys settled down to play in the sand a bit.

But before long, a certain someone kept taking off to try and explore solo...

Cute, but for sanity's sake, we set out once again.

The recent rain storms we've had meant that finding tracks was not too hard.

Although most belonged to domesticated animals, people and bikes, we did manage to find some scat that seemed to belong to a coyote.  I'll spare you the details, but after reading our book, we are pretty sure it didn't come from a pet...

What are your favorite "perfect weather" outdoor activities?  I'd love to enjoy this season as much as possible while it lasts! 

He Loves Me More...

Last week when I was praying for the boys and tucking them into bed, Xander informed me that Jesus loves him more than I do. 

I asked him if he knows that I love him.  With a huge smile, he vigorously nodded.  "And God loves you more?" I asked.  His eyes lit up and he fairly danced out of bed...  Oh it feels good to be loved!

Being a parent has grown my perspective on so many things.  As I sat there thinking about what Xander was saying, I was blown away by how much God loves us.  Rich and I, like most parents, LOVE our children more than just about anything else.  It is a fierce love that desires what is best for them and puts their good above our own.  And yet to think that my love for them pales in comparison to the love God has for them and for me...

I'm overwhelmed with gratitude...

93. that He loved us first.

94. that because of that we can love Him in return.

95. for growing love between man and wife!  We're almost to 10 years of marriage!

96. for all of the teachable moments that parenting and marriage give me.  God is in the business of growing me up!  He will never give up and never let me go.

97. for forbearance. My children and my hubby are so patient with me and still love me despite my shortcomings...

98. I'm so grateful that despite emotional ups and downs, He remains the same.  His mercies are new every morning.

Valentine Immitation

I don't have a history of going 'all-out' for Valentine's Day.  Just ask my husband.  For our first Valentine's together, I bought him a copy of "Knowing Scripture" by R.C. Sproul.

Quite romantic...

So it was quite ironic that February happened to be my month to plan our co-op activities.  Our main theme for the month is horses, but my books on the Pony Express did not make it to me on-time and I ended up reverting to plan b.

Call.my.mom.

Planning learning activities is very fun for me and 'usually' comes naturally.  But for some reason, I had a total block.  After wracking my brain for 2 days, I was completely uninspired and getting frantic with co-op less than 24 hours away.

Thankfully, moms have a knack for making everything better.

She calmed me down and gave me a few starting ideas to go along with my book, Saint Valentine, a beauitful picture book about the man behind the holiday.

We read the story about Valentine - a physician by day who prayed for his patients at night and ultimately lost his life because of his faith in Jesus.  It was especially powerful since one of the mothers had almost been imprisoned for sharing the gospel when in another country. 

We ended by talking about how God was the Great Physician and took some time to let the kids each pray for someone they knew who was sick. 

We also discussed the form of artwork used for the illustrations - mosaics,  The kids made mosaic heart cards that they could then send to the people that we had prayed for!  They loved playing with the glue sticks and utilizing their pincer grasps as they picked up tiny bits of paper and placing them on their heart. 

Xander was thrilled to be able to write a whole letter to his Great-Aunt Joy who has terminal cancer.

Afterwards we finished making some yummy chocolate dipped pretzels for our dessert and called it a day!

Later, inspiration struck and I made a matching game with shapes using scrapbooking paper and red foam sheets cut into cubes.  The texture was interesting and the boys had fun playing Memory.

Keegan also enjoyed sorting hearts from largest to smallest!

And I felt like I sort of made up for previous Valentine's failures!

Current Reads

So many books and so little time.  I'm finding that I need to be a little more intentional to actually sit down and read some of the many books that have recently peaked my curiosity.

As you can see, the list is long and ecclectic...

The Beautiful Fight: Surrendering to the Transforming Presence of  God Every Day of Your Life
It has now been re-released under the new title: Holy Available: What If Holiness Is about More Than What We Don't Do?.  I'm embarassed to say that I've been working my way through this book for a while.  It is absolutely incredible.  I find myself pausing to reflect with each page I read which is part of the reason it's taken me so long to read it...

He talks about what he has termed, "incarnational spirituality" and defines it as:

"the living, reigning, and ascended Jesus living through us and transforming us into different people ~ [this] does not exist to uphold a few rules but rather speaks of a process that creates an entirely new person who sees with new eyes, feels with a new heart, hears with renewed ears, and lives with a new passion."

Good stuff.

Parenting in the Pew: Guiding your Children Into the Joy of Worship.
The title intrigued me.  She urges us as parents to have our "hearts fixed on being with our children before the Lord."  I'm interested to read what she has to say...

The Art of Mingling
This book just makes me laugh.  Of course, I'm reading it because I am in a season where I am having to move outside of my comfort zone and meet new people.  I like to think that I used to be good at this once upon a time...  But one thing is sure, I'm not so great at 'mingling' right now.  It takes great effort to get my mind off of kids, diapers, etc and actually be able to have a coherent, interesting conversation with someone I don't know very well.

Don't Drink Your Milk
I recently went to a talk on pregnancy nutrition (no, I'm not pregnant) presented by my sister's chiropractor.  He mentioned problems with milk consumption and recommends staying away from it.  This was news to me.  Our family drinks A LOT of milk, but I've had some suspicians that younger two boys might be having some issues from milk consumption.  I'm reading this book as a starting point, before I do more internet research.  (Just a small way that I'm trying to cut down on my accursed screen-time.)  I've reduced the boys milk consumption and after what I've read, my craving for milk has gone away...

Thankfully, not all of my reading is of the non-fiction variety...

Cheaper by the Dozen
With Xander's roll in the play last fall, came a fascination with the story, so a friend of mine lent me the book.  It is hilarious and I find it interesting to compare how it stacks up to the play, the old movie and the new movie... 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

This is our new family read-aloud.  The illustrations by Helen Oxenbury are beautiful and boys are excited that there are so many.  I don't remember reading this when I was a girl, but I probably did.  Either way, I'm intrigued to read it now! 


And last, but certainly not least, especially since I'm the most faithful with this, is my Bible study.

My Bible study group is doing a Precept study on the book of Daniel this semester and next.   I love the inductive Bible study method that Precept Ministries uses.  I enjoy discovering God's truth for myself rather than relying more heavily on simply how other people interpret the Bible.  It is so nice to have accountability.  It keeps me in the Word daily and just blown away as the Holy Spirit makes it come alive!  The diverse group of women in my study have become so precious to me.

I'd love to hear what you are reading right now!  I'm always looking for new titles to go in the queue!

Gratitude

Taking the time to, once again, count my blessings.  Turning my attention upward does wonders for curing the blues...

So my list continues.  Counting my way to 1000...

81.  So incredibly grateful that God touched my heart at such a young age and has never let me go since...

82. That God speaks to me, whether it is confirmation of something via a friend, through a song or bringing the right piece of Scripture to me when I need it.

83. glimpses of His splendor and a desire to see more fully.

84. feeling that calming presence of God when the world around is swirling, ever changing and sometimes frightening.

85. Cookie-snatching Treyton who keeps me constantly on my toes.  God knows that I hate being bored!

86. Help at dinner time.  My visiting mother-in-law made meal time prep so much easier last week.

87. Extra laps at our family music class!

89. seeing my oldest dancing with his Mima.

90. tongue-out, hard-at-work, concentration by middle bit.

91. The sound of bells being shook by little boys

92. boys obsessed with cowboy hats and boots.  I know I will miss it so much all too soon...

Easter Thoughts...

I know, I know.  We still have about 8 weeks until Easter, but I've found my thoughts drifting that direction.  Remembering the miraculous work that Jesus has done in my heart because of His death and resurrection has always blown me away.

I'm so thankful for my children.  They cause me to start earlier and earlier in our preparations for Easter.  This is a wonderful time for me to quiet my heart, seek intimacy with God and be intentional in helping my children do the same.

I'm getting ready to pull out our "Road to Calvary" banner that we did last year.  And exploring how else we want to creatively remind ourselves of the truth and live in the glorious fellowship that we have as a result!   I will also be taking time off from the computer to spend on quieting my heart and listening to God more w/out the noise and distraction of the "world at my fingertips"...

I'm not sure exactly what it will look like for us this year.  Maybe some of what we did last year and probably some new things...   I'm looking for ideas and praying for direction.

Either way, I know that it will be wonderful because HE is wonderful.

Visits!

What a week...  After a weekend of 're-organizing', I sped right into frantically trying to pull the house together for a visit from my wonderful in-laws.  Deciding to re-organize and set up an updated filing system probably should not have been tackled right before company is to arrive. 

Poor timing.

Thankfully, they love us, despite our lack of organization and general tidiness.  And with the beautiful weather we've been having, much of our time was spent outdoors - exploring!

We also enjoyed several hikes.  The boys were such troopers.  I'm so excited to start hiking more with the boys!!!  There is something so wonderful about getting out into the middle of nowhere and enjoying nature!

Now that they have left our sunny state for colder regions, we must get back to 'normal' life.