Easter

I've been thinking alot about Easter this last week. I've been thinking about how I want to celebrate it with my kiddos. Mind you it's Miss M's fifth one, but she's old enough now that traditions are important to start and making things meaningful is now relevant!

I got thinking of ALL the 'stuff' I/we do for Christmas. Let's be honest here, I start celebrating Christmas the day after Thanksgiving! Decorations, music, crafts, baking, gift buying/giving/returning, etc. It's a crazy but fun season of life. And even though my two are young, they are clear about Christmas...they know it's a celebration of Jesus' birth and they know it's time for fun!

Easter. Not so much fanfare, at least not at my house. But I really want to make an effort to change that. I'm on the search for good ideas, fun books, cool crafts, yummy recipes and meaningful moments that will teach my kids first that Jesus died on the cross for their sins and second that is a time to be joyful...a way was made so that we can live eternally in heaven! What is not to celebrate!

So I plan to share ideas that I find in the next few weeks to prepare my kids for Easter and for fun! I'm starting with an idea I read on a blog at Christmas time. That particular blogger keeps her Nativity set out from Christmas to Easter to emphasize the connection between Christ's birth and his death. I love the idea, although I didn't leave it out for two months. I put it somewhere I can grab it and I will do so about a month prior to Easter. I just found a Resurrection set in a catalog (nice perk of new job...Christian catalogs out the waazoo), it's the same idea as a Nativity set only it has a tomb instead of a stable, Jesus is an adult and Mary and others are featured, along with an angel. I'm hoping to order that by the end of the week. We can set both up and learn about the similarities and differences between these two significant scenes.

I'm boiling over with some other ideas but I'll pace myself! Feel free to post any traditions your family has, I love new ideas. Look for future posts about Resurrection Eggs, Benjamin's Box, neighborhood egg hunts, and dyeing eggs!

PS--you can find the Resurrection Set at www.livinggracecatalog.com item number PS265

oops...I forgot to blog...

It's been a crazy two weeks here and blogging never even crossed my mind! Let's play a little catch up, WARNING there may be a bit of a rant on the end of this. Unless typing these thoughts is theraputic enough I am pretty annoyed about my lunch out today!!

Last week my new job became real work. This is not a negative comment, it is just that the reality of steadily working, dealing with people and having more responsibility hit me hard. I still really love what I'm doing but the pace is quicker than I have had to move in quiet awhile.

At the end of a very busy week we went away for a weekend with friends from church. It was a terrific time away. Our friends and us have some mutual friends from other areas of life so they were there too! It was great to catch up with some "college peeps" and to spend time with friends we see more regularly. My two were the youngest of the seven kids that were there, really JB being the only "baby". The kids played fantastically all together all weekend. It was glorious, we had lots of opportunity for conversation and even a game or two. A little snow would have made everyone a little happier, but the indoor pool seemed to ease their sadness!

This week started off lousy, but my two days of work went well and now here it is Friday, I love Friday!

For fun (????) I took the kids to get their hairs cut today. Miss M really wanted long locks but it is like World War 3 every time I have to comb it. Last Friday we told her that if we couldn't comb her hair nicely every day than we would have to get it cut short. So...it's short!! It looks fantastic, she really has the face for short hair, and it makes her blue eyes even bluer (is that even possible). JB went under the clippers too, got his a little shorter than usual as well. They both look scrumptious! And they were so good getting it done that I told them I would take them out to lunch.

RANT WARNING

When asked what they wanted the answer was "hot dogs". Really??? How about pizza? Nope Chicken nuggets? Nah Salad, a cheesesteak, soup, turkey sandwich...no, no, no and definitely NO!

Where in Newtown can one buy a hot dog? Aside from the grocery store and 7-11 (of course, I now know Lee's and Slack's have them, I've put that in my memory bank). So I took them to Jake's Eatery, a lunch joint that serves sandwiches, burgers, soup and hot dogs! I haven't been there for lunch so it was new territory! When I walked in you might have thought I was bringing in two people with signs on their backs that said "Bubonic Plague, stay away"...it was like they had never seen children before!! I asked for a booth, I could see one was empty. The guy hemmed and hawed (wow, that looks funny, I say that alot, never write it), then an older gentlemen came in the door, said "just me today", and he was promptly whisked off to MY BOOTH!!!

They finally took me to a table that couldn't have a high chair at it, because it would be in the aisle. I open up the menu and...a kid's meal is $5.50...for a hot dog and chips!!! You have got to be kidding me, Newtown is killing me!! I ended up ordering them each a hot dog from the adult menu and one dish of fries and it cost me $6.25. The waiter wasn't happy, but neither was I!

Oh well, the kids ate every bite, were pleased as punch that I took them to "a real restuarant" and came home and layed right down for naps!

Did I mention how cute they both look????

A Lovely Library Day

We started a tradition on Miss M's first Valentine Day...books! I'm sure you're not surprised. Our rationale, not that it's any of your business, is that Christmas and her birthday felt pretty close. Valentine's Day is only a few days later, more stuff is the last thing we need, so a new book for our collection seemed like the perfect gift. I always try and get a Valentine book or a least a love themed story. This year Miss M got Charlie Brown, she really likes the Peanuts gang! JB got a book that has nothing to do with love or Valentine's Day, it just looked like a cool book that he would like:



I got a little smarter this year with Valentine's Day dinner. In the past I have tried to make some romantic dinner for Prince Charming and I. Some years we ate after we put kids to bed, other years we ate our yummy adult dinner and I gave the kids something different. Since we have been having our little "Hunger Games" issue here, I decided to just make a yummy dinner that everyone would eat. Without complaining. Or arguing.

It worked! Homemade meatball sandwiches, fries and peas. I made chocolate pudding for dessert in little heart tins my mom used every Valentine's Day (she always made red jello--my kids would rather have pudding). It was a fun dinner, with books for presents afterward. The best part is they went to bed early! They played outside for a good part of the afternoon with Grandmom and they didn't nap much.

Now onto the real Valentine's Day celebration...

Monday

I've really come to appreciate Monday in the last two weeks. I usually work on Tuesday and Wednesday, have pre-school co-op on Thursday and then the weekend starts! Sunday has become a "work day"...so by Monday I'm thrilled to relax, clean-up, spend time with the kids and re-charge for the week ahead.

I made a terrible pot of chili yesterday, a recipe from a trusted friend went horribly wrong. Unfortunately my entire small group had to pay the price, by the time I realized it wasn't good it was too late to make a new dinner for everyone (and I was mad that I had wasted the money to make it). Everyone was gracious, but I'm sure they had a good laugh all the way home :) It's okay friends, I can admit my error!!

In other news, I'm learning how to listen to people complain and be unhappy but not react. I had this skill when I was a teacher and had kind of lost it whilst parenting. If the kids express their unhappiness with me they usually get a reaction!! One time when I was teaching Kindergarten at Willow Dale Elementary, we had a lice epidemic. One mom came in with a bowl full of her daughters hair, in water, to show me the eggs that I had "put in her daughters hair". True story!!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, are you doing anything fun for your family?? I think we'll start off the morning with some pink pancakes, it's kind of a tradition. I wonder if I can get my mom to make them heart shaped sandwiches?!?!!? Too much to ask the free babysitter?? I'll just have to make a special Valentine's dinner...I'm taking suggestions!

The Hunger Game

No, this is not a post about my favorite book trilogy (but have you read it yet, it's fabulous). This is a post about the current game going on in my house. It goes something like this: I make a meal they like (breakfast, lunch or dinner), they refuse to eat it, they are hungry in between meals. I don't care for this game, the only comfort I have is that I know some of you have the same game being played in your home, and if it's not being played today than it probably was last week or will be next week...

Usually when my kids play this game it's for dinnertime, this week it's all meals. I'm so fed up with it that tonight I didn't want to make dinner. I get a little tired of making the effort only for the food to be complained about and untouched. So I ran to the Farmer's Market in Newtown, picked up a chicken potpie and popped it in the oven. At least Prince Charming and I are going to eat something yummy!

Lo and behold (what in the world does that mean??), anyway, lo and behold they both gobbled up the chicken potpie like it was an episode of "The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Amish Food".

So what do you think it was, here's a couple of options for those of you who prefer multiple choice:
1. The Hunger Game took it's toll, they were starved, and they would have eaten dog food if I had placed it in front of them.
2. They actually like chicken potpie.
3. They knew I really like chicken potpie and they didn't want me to be happy, so they ate most of it.
4. God answered my prayer, they ate.

Now, if you're a person that grew up going to Sunday School I know you're going to pick number four. Isn't the answer always Jesus, Bible, God??? Although I am sure God had something to do with it, I personally believe he always does, I think some of the other options are also viable.

Library Day

Today, I returned two DVD's to the library. That's it, that's all I have for you regarding Library Day.

I find my new job rewarding, I totally enjoy being there and talking shop all day long. Today we even went to Target and Toys R Us for work...who wouldn't love this job?!?!?! I am tired and for two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, I feel slightly disconnected to my family. Then I have Thursday-Monday (with a big splash of work on Sunday morning) to enjoy them and be thankful for how God has provided!

Maybe I'll switch Library Day to a day I'm not working, I really do love posting my Children's Lit ideas, but by Tuesday night...

put a fork in me

I'm done

February 6 :)

February 6...my baby girl is turning five!!!! Five feels big, like those little years are behind us and now the big, wide world is in front of us! This year will bring new friends, old and young when she steps into Kindergarten. She'll learn all kinds of great things, like hopefully how to read! She'll probably learn some things I'll wish she didn't have to learn, things like the word stupid and dumb (and probably worse) and that kids aren't always kind. We'll have to talk with her more about privacy, strangers, and other scary topics. Wow...I was good with pre-5...this is starting to make me nervous :)

On Miss M's birthday my mind always goes back to those years before I was pregnant and so desperately wanted a baby. I will always remember that empty feeling, but for me it will always remind me that my God is faithful and he answers prayers, my prayers!

I am so thankful for my beautiful, spirited girl. She is smart, brave, funny, kind, creative, tender-hearted and bossy. She gave her little heart to Jesus, just the other day, and I think the two of them will make an awesome team! I can't wait to see what's ahead, I just wish it came a little slower!

Happy Birthday precious girl, I love you!

Friday Fun

Prince Charming brought a giant box home from work the other day. He had the idea we would make it into a pirate ship. I was behind him 100%! Yesterday when I dragged it out the kids wanted it to be a playhouse. So, I changed gears and here is the result:

Here is the back of the house, with curtains :)


Sorry for the sideways view here, I couldn't figure out how to flip it. Anywhoo...we made a nice front door that they can walk in and out of. We have since added marker and crayon artwork to all sides of the structure. They seem to like to stand in it to watch a show and to pretend it's where they cook the food when we play restuarant. Hey, whatever makes them happy!!!

We also started some Valentine fun. Last year I tried to adopt a really awesome tradition that some family friends do. It involves a Valentine train, making each other cards and presents, and then a big unveiling on Valentine's Day. My kids are really just a little young for it, so I think we're going to try that again in a year or two. For now we talked a little about who first loved us, Jesus! Then we made a little garland of hearts and wrote down all the people we love on them.


Next week we have to make some actual Valenine's for our preschool coop friends. Looking forward to the kids having their first ever Valentine's party with friends!!

Thoughts about work

Well, two days down, eternity to go :) That makes it sound bad, I really had a great two days in the office. I love the people God has me working with and I love talking about Children's Ministry all day! I have to say I'm a bit of a pansy...I came home Tuesday night and was EXHAUSTED!!! I've been chasing two kids around for years now, how is sitting at a desk and going to meetings all day more tiring? Oh well!

A few random thoughts about being back in the workforce:

+I wish life was like the webinar I "attended" yesterday. The guy teaching the class could mute us and only accept questions and comments when he deemed appropriate...LOVE. IT.

+I packed my lunch for all my years of teaching. For the last few years packing a lunch meant...cheese stick, yogurt drink, pb&j, cut up fruit, sippy cup. I got a few strange looks on Tuesday when I unpacked my ladybug lunchbox and whipped out what looked to others like "lunch for JB". Gotta work on that!!

+The church office is CRAZY busy...they are working their tails off in there. Go easy on them!

+The joy that comes from listening to my own music/radio stations in the car on the way to and from is satisfying!!

+I miss my kids, have terrible mommy guilt and feel like I have to use my moments with them even more preciously! To those of you that work full-time, and always have, I don't know how you do it!

Today we are doing a lot of nothing and I can't wait! We aren't doing preschool because of some sick kids. There is a huge box in my bedroom that Prince Charming brought home from work so the kids could play in it. I think we'll transform that box into something cool and just have a great time being together!

Oh, and I think I need to start packing a bottle of sprinkles in my lunch for those moments when I miss home :)