Quiet Sorting

Beads are amazing.  I remembered that I had this big bag of them and pulled them out the other day to play a sorting game with my two year old.  He had been trying to get up on the stools with the bigger boys, so I pulled him aside to do something special with him and let the older boys continue playing.

As he picked up a bead, I'd tell him the color.  Then we would put it in a muffin space.  Pretty soon, Treyton was on a roll sorting the beads by color and jabbering about the shapes (balls, dolphins, lions, various fruit, loop beads, etc.)

Now a week later, he is shouting out his colors (in his own, mostly incoherent way) and sorting without my help, although I do still supervise since he's prone to throwing beads as if they were baseballs...

This was also a great activity to develop the pincer grasp which is an essential fine-motor skill needed for holding a pencil properly.  This is important "because the more these muscles are tuned, the easier it will be for the child to learn to write."  For more, read here.

But Treyton wasn't the only one fascinated with the beads.  Both of my bigger boys ended up begging to play with them and peacefully sorted beads for almost an hour.  (Hurray, time to straighten up the kitchen!)

Since they have mastery of colors, we could also use them to naturally go over concepts like:

more than/less then

(Are there more red beads or blue beads?)

simple addition

(If Xander has __ green beads and Keegan has __ green beads, how many would you have if you combined them?)

subtraction

(You had 15 beads, but Treyton just swiped 6 of them, how many do you have left?)

different shades of the same main color

living vs non living

(ball-shaped beads vs. animal/plant shaped beads)

playing I-Spy 

independant exploration/play

This activity could not have come at a better time since we are getting set to head into super hot weather soon!

Embracing the Chaos

My sister sent me this snippet from The Mother's Almanac.  It made me laugh and cry at the same time, especially since I had taken my boys to the park this morning and made up a game involving running laps across the field to burn energy.  Although I thought chaos was just part and parcel of having young children in general, not just boys in sets of three! 

There must be a special place in heaven for mothers of three sons. You certainly can tell them on earth. They’re those ladies with amused, bemused faces and an amazing tolerance for disaster – for they have learned that shouting doesn’t help.

No other combination of children, not even twins, can create so much chaos or camaraderie. Even the most introspective child will join the team – them against you – and like all good players, they encourage each other to bigger feats of daring.

We recommend the advice of so many successful mothers of three boys. Give them as much outdoor playtime as possible, and indoors, set up two rooms: one for sleeping, with nothing but beds and bureaus, and the other for playing, with much climbing equipment. With three children, one is bound to be quieter than the others and he probably will need a corner somewhere else.

You will be frazzled in the early years but when your boys grow up, we think you’ll find yourself perhaps more treasured than most other mothers.

Pentecost

All of our preparations and activities this past week and a half culmintated in our Pentecost party.  Sunday marked 50 days after we celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus.  And 50 days after THAT day was when the Holy Spirit came, giving power and boldness.  That was the day that the disciples boldly proclaimed the good news of Jesus and over 3,000 decided to follow Jesus.  The church was born.

The boys helped gather balloons and finish the crowns.  Candles were lit!  

Tongues of fire graced heads.

And a meal was shared.

The highlight for the evening was of course the 'birthday' cake and singing.  The boys also sang one of the two songs they had learned.

We have been talking about how the church is "who" not "where."  This is  difficult because our terminology really can mislead.  We refer to the building as the church or the Sunday morning meeting as church.  But what we need to really understand at a deep level is that those who believe in Jesus are the church.  Sunday morning is simply the gathering of the church. 

To reinforce this, I taught the boys a song that I learned as a child.  I only remembered the chorus and first two verses, but was excited to discover that there was more, including a verse directly relating to Pentecost.

 

Wobbles, courtesy of a certain 2 year old who wanted to 'watch'. 

We Are the Church

Words and Music by Richard K. Avery and Donald S. Marsh, 1972

Chorus:

I am the church, you are the church;

we are the church together.

All who follow Jesus, all around the world.

Yes, we're the church together.

Verses:
The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple,

the church is not a place, but the church is the people.

We're many kinds of people, with many kinds of faces,

all colors and all ages, too, from all times and places.

And when the people gather, there's singing and there's praying,

there's laughing and there's crying sometimes, all of it saying:

At Pentecost some people received the Holy Spirit

and told the Good News through the world to all who would hear it.

I'm excited to explore this again next year.  There are so many different aspects to mediate on - the history of the early church, the Holy Spirit (fruit, gifts, filling, power, comfort), the Jewish feast of Pentecost or First Fruits.  So until next year...

Ten Years

Well, I guess it's official.  We probably aren't considered newlyweds anymore, right?  Rich and I celebrated 10 years of marriage this last week.  It's been a whirlwind and I can't believe how fast it's flown by and how much has changed.

Marriage is a gift.  Rich is a gift.  Sometimes I don't think it is, but that doesn't change the truth.  We've experienced ups and downs, for better or worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health.  Our little family of 'us' has grown from 2 becoming 1 to now 5!   We are both the better for it!

(engagement picture, Fall 1999)

I still get all giddy when I think back to those first "butterflies" I felt when leaning over to tell my friend Rich something at a movie.  It was in February 1998.  The butterflies started up.  I was shocked.  This was Rich, my good friend Rich.  And yet somehow it was different...

And here we are 12 years later - married with three little boys racing circles around us!

So many gifts to count

*He listens to all of my ideas!
*He is a realist and keeps me (the idealist and visionary) grounded.
*He is loyal and steadfast.  We are in this for the long-haul - till death parts us and I know he will not waver.
*He keeps me humble.  (Although, I'll never give up at besting him at strategy or card games.)
*He still gives me goosebumps!
*He brings laughter into our home.

(costume party in 1998)

*He is a good sport and participates in my schemes!
*His understated leadership. 
*His "firm grasp of the obvious."
*He doesn't complain. 
*He is confident and self assured in a way that doesn't need other people to know or praise what he's done.
*The 'growing me up' that marriage has accomplished.

Life is rich and sweet!

Tutorial: Pentecost Crowns

One of the perks of parenthood is taking the time to really think about spiritual things since I have the job of teaching it to my young one's.  I'm finding during this season that my thoughts are drawn to what the disciples must have felt during this rapidly changing time.  The events leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus and then the whirlwind of days as they began to see with new eyes as Jesus made clear His plan that had been set from the foundation of the world.

As I read about the disciples waiting on the Lord in prayer, my heart is drawn to verses like:

"I wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him."

Psalm 62:5 (NLT) 

So I'm drawn to waiting, praying, seeking.  I find myself refreshed and expectant. 

There is so much depth here.  How do I explain the significance of what was happening as the disciples witnessed Jesus' ascension and waiting for the coming of the promised Holy Spirit?  Sometimes my attempts seem so feeble...

But then I remind myself that it is not my job to ensure that they are blown away by this and affected at a deep level as I am.  This is a job that only God can do.  But I can faithfully teach and share my joy, wonder and awe at these events.  I can try and find ways to make it easier for them to relate to the excitement and then pray that God would open their eyes and unlock their hearts!

And so we continue our preparations for our Pentecost party this Sunday to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of His church.

After reading our book on Pentecost, Xander announced that he wanted all of us to have tongues of fire for the party.

And so we commenced with making our Tongues of Fire Crowns.

First, I gathered supplies.

glue, cotton swabs, paper plates, scissors, glitter and paper.

picture of a flame: download here!

I printed flames and cut them out. 

Then I gave each child a plate with a flame.  On a separate plate I squeezed out glue and handed each child a cotton swab to spread glue.    [Gripping this little cotton swab is a great activity for developing fine motor skills and that important pincer grasp.  See, we get Bible and general preschool activities at the same time.]

Once a thin layer of glue is spread on the flame, comes the potentially messy part.  I chose to monitor this pretty close since I'm not a fan of cleaning and didn't feel like getting glitter all over my carpet...  I placed a small amount in their palm or let them carefully tap the orange glitter which had a special lid.

As we let these dry, we began the cutting phase so we would have strips to make the crowns.

I discovered that my 5.5 year old could make some quality cuts and that the 3.5 year old wasn't interested on that particular day of even trying to follow the lines...  So we just let the two younger one's cut for fun while Xander focused on getting the strips done.

Finally we glued the flame to the middle of a black strip and stapled two black strips together and then measured each head to get a proper fit before stapling it all together.

The excitement is building over here!

Preparing for Pentecost

After Jesus rose from the dead, He spent another 40 days here on earth.  He talked with His disciples, opened up Scripture and explained why He had to come and why He had to die.  Right before He ascended back into heaven, He told his disciples to wait in Jeruselem.  They ended up waiting 10 more days for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

To introduce this to the boys, I used two wonderful resources:

This story Bible for kids is a gem because it really helps give the overall "big picture" of what the Bible is about.  It all centers around Jesus - the Old Testament leading up to him and the New Testement telling about Him.  This book does a fabulous job of doing just that.  We enjoyed re-reading from the ascension to the birth of the church at Pentecost.

This book is wonderful.  For those that are not familiar with Arch books, they are Bible stories set to rhyme that are very faithful to the text.  They are a great way for kids to learn, especially when it comes to the less common Bible stories, such as this one.  I loved how this one not only included the events from the Ascension to Pentecost, but also included Peter's preaching of the word and the subsequent birth of the church!

After reading this to the boys, we talked about birth and birthdays.  I explained that Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit gave the disciples the power and ability to proclaim the good news of Jesus.  And when they did, 3,000 were added to their number that day.  That day, marks the birth of the church.

So we've decided to have a birthday party and celebrate this next Sunday since it is 50 days after Easter.  Being little boys who love anything birthday related, they were practically bouncing off the walls.  (In hindsight, I probably should have made this announcement in the morning instead of at bedtime.)

The next day we went to the dollar store to prepare. 

For our Pentecost Party, we will be celebrating with candles and lots of red to remind us of the Holy Spirit who came in a gust of wind and FIRE!

The boys asked for little watering cans when we were at the dollar store, so I decided to get one for each one.  As we remember the disciples waiting for the gift of the Holy Spirit who would come in power to grow the church, so we wait for our little watering cans which will help grow our garden.  (Have I mentioned recently that I STILL have a black thumb and part of my problem is not giving my plants enough water???)

When we arrived home from the store we decided to make our own wrapping paper by drawing pictures inspired by our readings about Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit on some butcher paper!

Sometimes the simplest of activities are the most rewarding. 

A big scrap of paper and a handful of drawing tools in the hands of creative boys proved to be a delightful combination!

tongue of fire and a mighty wind

(by Keegan, 3.5)

Even the two year old was delighted to take part with his brothers and leave his mark on the project!

And now we wait...

Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

A New Skill Under My Belt

Trey received these colorful little 'pills' for his birthday from cousin E that grow into sponge animals when placed in warm water. The boys all love them.

Last night during bathtime, we gave each boy a pill and soon enough there were two dolphins and a dinosaur swimming around with them.

All was well until bedtime when Keegan insisted in taking two of them to bed with him. Without thinking anything of it I gave my consent. I mean, they certainly don't pose a choking hazard.

Clearly, I don't think like a little boy and about 20 minutes later Xander starts shrieking and calling for me. All he could scream was "Nose, Keegan's nose." Since Keegan is prone to bloody noses, I tore upstairs, grabbing tissue on the way.

Upon arriving in their room, I was informed that the dolphin was wedged up Keegan's nose. I busted up laughing, despite a small part of me wondering how and if I could get it out...

Needless to say that slimy dolphin is now on its way to a final resting place in the city dump. Yuk.

And so I accomplished my first nasal extraction.

thankful

Counting gifts 252-272

Taking time to recognize God's gifts for me is a gift that keeps on giving...  I'm learning to see His gifts for me all over the place, even places I never thought I would.

A little while ago, I went to the library to get a culture pass for a trip to the "Playseum".  Knowing they go fast, my goal was to make it to the library at 7:30 when it opens.  But 'mommy brain' kicked in and I didn't think about it until 8:30.  I still raced down hoping that one of those elusive passes would still be available.

As I ran in, I was met with dissapointment.  No passes.  But as I sat to take it in and make mental plans for what I would do with our co-op date at the museum approaching, a woman walked up and muttered "I guess I won't use it this week." and put a Children's Museum pass back.

And there it was - an unexpected gift just plopped in to my lap.  Thank you Jesus for caring for the tiny, fairly unimportant details.  It made my day, knowing that you thought of me in that way! :)

I pray I continue to slow down enough to realize the many gifts that swirl around me and continue to count each one...


countless games of Go Fish with a 3.5 year old who finally has it figured out!

dropping a 'draw 4' card on my 5.5 year old who was just about to beat me AGAIN at Uno.

talking about the ascension with my boys and making it real by giving them a way to re-enact it!

fresh realization that Jesus has not only risen from the dead, but has ascended and reigns in power.

time to make plans for learning about Pentecost.  (Stay-tuned, I'll be posting more on this soon...)

a night out at the movies with my mom and sister.

laughter over parallel parking!

taking the bigger boys to their first musical - Seussical.

watching their eyes glued on the stage.

youngest looking up to middle.

Hearing Trey call out for Keegan and giggling each time.  He calls him "Me-me".
time away at my monthly Saturday morning retreat!

uplifting and encouraging conversations with women who have been forever changed by Jesus and captured by His love for them.  Their joy is contagious and refreshing!

times of connection with Keegan.

Battling lies with the TRUTH and reminders to keep it up.

cinnamon-sugar popcorn

an understanding husband

anticipation of a visit from my mother-in-law.

late-night checks on sleeping boys.

my nieces pigtails that make me smile and go all mushy inside!

The Power of Touch

Do any of you ever have really bad weeks? This week was one of those for me. Nothing seemed to go right.   I could go on and on, but I will just leave it at that and spare you all the boring, tedious details...

One manifestation of my bad week was with my 3.5 year old.  We seemed to be on a total disconnect. There were so many moments when I wanted to run from the house and hide – for a long while. I thought surely someone would revoke my ‘mommy-license’ if they were watching.

It hit the breaking point yesterday as he just repeatedly defied me, not caring whether or not he was punished for it. In fact, punishing him seemed to just spur him on…

My heart just started breaking. I started pleading with him, with myself, with God -just trying to understand him.  Something just didn't feel right.  I asked him why he was so angry, but my little man of few words is rarely able to articulate himself when he’s upset. I’m not sure if it is an age thing, a boy thing or just a personality thing, but he simply isn’t a verbal communicator.

Finally I felt a nudge from the Lord as He dropped the memory of a sibling squabble that my sister and I had when we were young. In frustration, my mom tied us together for the day and told us that we were sisters and needed to learn how to get along -one way or another. Doing everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, together for the day helped us work through our differences and learn how to cooperate and love each other at the same time. 

So I figured I would give it a try with Keegan. Babywearing worked beautifully for us during the baby phase, so I decided to do it again with my almost 4 year old. My hips are a bit sore, but that walk we took yesterday was a healing balm to our relationship. I could feel his tension begin to dissolve as I strolled around the neighborhood with him snuggled up on my back.   Touch is a powerful thing.

Today we took another walk. And guess what?!?!? He started talking to me, whispering observations about our environment, how it made him feel and how much he loved me…

I am not a great listener, but I am learning how important it is to be attentive to the various ways that with these little men of mine (and the big one too) communicate.

Hopefully, one of these days I’ll get it figured out. In the meantime, I’m thankful for those little nudges that God gives and fresh grace.  I'm also thankful that God keeps us close like that, even when we are disobedient.  He pulls us close and showers us with love.  He extends grace, forgiveness, understanding and then power and motivation to change.  What an example I have!

(picture taken over a year ago at the zoo)

cousin love

Cousins.

They thoroughly enjoy each other...

...and juming on the bed which is something they don't get to go at our house.

Moms for a Mom

Moms help keep the world going in so many ways...

I think becoming a mother has only increased my appreciation for my own mother and also for every other mother out there.  It is a hard, often under-appreciated job. 

And one that never really ends. 

Even though I'm now a mom, I still need a mom. 

Thankfully, I have two!

My own mother. 

She is always there for us.  She gives up her time and her heart for my sisters and I. 

She has been a sounding board when I'm struggling with my own parenting struggles and shares my obsession with educational philosophy and teaching.  Actually, I probably got it from her...

And my second mother.

Ten years ago this month, she officially became my second mom!  I love hearing her stories of my husbands childhood and she has been so helpful in my own mothering journey.

She works nights as a nurse, so there have been several times I've called her in the middle of the night with sick kid questions!  And I'll always be thankful for her showing me how to bathe my babies.  Her method was far easier than my feeble attempts.

She's coming out in a week to hang out with us!  We are all so excited!

My boys love spending time with their grandma's.  My mom called last week and asked to come down and join us for 'school' last week.  

Yup, I'm very blessed!  So I continue to count the gifts that God has poured out on my life and stand in awe as God continues to change my perspective in the process!

232. my mom

233. my mother-in-law

234. Oma's Days.  It is especially helpful since I've been putting off 'messy' activities until nap time when Treyton is down for a nap.

235. working together to build our Hopi village.

236. boys learning how to shoot arrows!

237. special excitement during a spelling lesson.  It's amazing what a difference it makes to have a new audience/teacher! 

238. baby boy grins and attempts at being big.

239. special time with Oma.  He talked about it the rest of the day!

240. my first 'hand-made' mother's day gift.  Xander was so proud of his creation that he made in Sunday school.

241. watching the men-folk hang out.  What a gift that they all like eachother! :)

242. watching my son's fill Oma in on what they learned in swim lessons.

243. a car full of precious cargo.

244. crazy boy hair.  :sigh:

245. a surprise trip out on Sunday night to watch the Suns sweep the Spurs! :) 

246. parents who take the boys to their house so hubby and I can watch the remainder of the game!

247. an evening with wonderful friends over mexican food and margarita's!

248. hearing about my friend's upcoming trip to Malawi.

249. brothers holding hands during a walk.

250. being blessed by other's lists of gratitude.

251. accepting... letting go... embracing what is.... repeat.

         (borrowed from Anne.)  Yes, even disappointment can be a gift.  Learning to trust, again and again...