The weekend

Grant brought this project home from school on Friday, they are talking about nutrition and healthy bodies.


It's a boy using a Kleenex to cover his cough or sneeze...or is it?.......




Friday night our church hosted a candyland ball, a father/daughter dance. I was asked to join our fellowship team recently so I got to help out with the decorating and I worked the punch table the night of the event. It was magical and a few tears were shed by myself. The little girls were all dressed up in the most adorable gowns and they all had corsages, the girls and some of the dads. The corsages were so tiny with itty bitty carnations and rose buds. Then there was the dancing with daddys that did me in. What a wonderful night, I was so glad to be a part of it. I snapped a few shots before everyone arrived.









And tonight, my friends, I am sitting in front of my fireplace! Matt installed my early birthday present, gas logs!!!!!

40 days

Join me in my for '40 bags in 40 days'. I started last year during Lent and I really liked it, so I'm doing it again this year. Sarah, at Clover Lane blog, introduced me to the idea. Here's what she had to say about it:



"The gist of it: During Lent (40 days) rid your house of 40 bags of stuff...things you don't love, don't use, junk, accumulated stuff, clutter, garbage.

Of course you can do the 40 bag thing ANY time. Why Lent? To me, Lent is a time of prayer, renewal, self-reflection, sacrifice, self-control, repentance and almsgiving. It does seem silly to me to somehow try to link a good old home decluttering with something as deeply spiritual as the Lenten season, but the first time I did 40 bags/40 days it was much more meaningful to me than just getting rid of junk. I thought long and hard about how much we really needed vs. how much we had, I became more aware of how we spent our time and money, I had the chance to feel the rewards of charity (and so did my children) giving away to those in need some of the things we took for granted. It was a physical cleansing of the space we were all growing together in, as a family, but it also freed up space in my heart and mind for awareness and purpose-I didn't want my house buried under "stuff" and I didn't want my heart and mind buried under "stuff" either-and I learned that often the physical reflects the spiritual and vice versa.

It sounds overwhelming but it's not, I promise. It's a slow process and almost miraculously, the spiritual part of the practice will unfold naturally as you begin the physical work."

Friday embarrassments

So Friday after teaching school, talking to colleagues and parents I came home and caught a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror! Not one, but two long black hairs were protruding from my chinny chin chin - great! I probably scarred the kids for life because girls aren't supposed to have beards, right?! That's what I always thought, not now.

There's more...after returning from the boy scout banquet later that evening where I sat at a table of friends and laughed and watched my boys receive awards, I came home and again glanced in the bathroom mirror and realized the second embarrassing moment of the day....a big piece of food covering half of my tooth! All I could do was laugh, I mean really??? Matt heard me laughing and said, "Oh did you finally get that piece of food off of your tooth?!" Thanks honey, can't wait to return that favor!

Last night we were still laughing about it.

Two lessons learned: pluck and floss!

Batman returns

Question?!

Matt and Dylan : How do you spell 'genius'?


:-)

Wednesday

Happy belated Valentines's day.

The boys woke up to a few gifts and homemade pancakes:-)


Grant helped decorate the house...








I even made Lily a little valentine so she wouldn't feel left out.


I ended up feeling lousy late in the day and spent the night in my bedroom while the boys did the dinner dishes. Jack stacked the plates in rainbow order:-) It was a nice surprise when I got the plates out for breakfast this morning.

I went to the doctor this morning and got some meds for a sinus infection and am feeling much better. Grant snuggled with me on the couch which always helps. This evening, he decided to play with his batman toys, watch the batman movie and, of course, dress up.


Laughter is the best medicine.

This week's picture round up

Monday, Jack celebrated 100 days of school with a fashion show. The kids had to decorate a shirt with 100 items and they held a fashion show, complete with runway, at school mo day morning.


Jack chose 100 safety pins.





His teacher provided the commentary as the kids walked.

Next we have the ceramic Dutch girl that Matt had hidden in my backyard, but Lena found her.


Remind me to take her to the dumpster (the Dutch girl not Lena).

Yesterday was Jack's valentine party. He exchanged these valentines, lips for the girls and mustaches for the boys.


At the party, my station was Tower of Love. The kids had to stack up large conversation hearts in a minute and see who could build the tallest tower. The kids loved it.





The record holder for the class was 18 hearts!

Last night we attended a surprise 40th birthday party for our good friend Christine. So fun, she was very surprised to see us all at her house when she came home from dinner out ;-)





And finally, Grant brought down this toy this morning from the playroom.


Evidence that a girl,Lena, spent time at our house last week: Wolverine wearing a strawberry shortcake shoe :-)

Have a great weekend, stay warm!

6th grade homework

I'm re-learning all about photosynthesis and cellular respiration while I'm helping Dylan study for a science test. His extra credit is chemical formulas for both processes so I thought I'd share...
Photosynthesis: 6CO2 + 6H2O + light energy = C6 H12 O6 + 6O2
And cellular respiration is just the opposite ( in case you were curious).
I think I would get an A+ and hopefully Dylan will too :-)

February in Ohio?

Last week Lena and Sam were here for the afternoon and we had a great day outside. It was so warm and sunny.



Sam immediately ran to the 'gun box' and suited up.


Grant carried Lena everywhere she wanted to go.


Sorry Nicole, Lena had to get in on the action too :-( Just crop out the weaponry.


Bubbles? February 1st? Yes!













Some (cute) mug shots. Fun times.

Five senses

This week at preschool we are studying the five senses. During a discussion at circle time yesterday, the kids were talking about each sense. I was filling snack cups up at the sink and listening to what was going on behind me. When Miss Susan asked the kids, "what are some things we can hear?",one of the kids let a BIG toot rip! It was like it was planned. I just lost it, I couldn't help it. The kids (and I )were hysterical and poor Miss Susan had to maintain her composure and try to continue with the lesson. Why is farting so funny?

Jack

I had to record two things Jack said tonight so I don't forget them.

I love the song Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond (I know, I know). Anyway, I sing it all the time, the pool played it a lot this summer and I would sing it loudly, and we heard it recently in the car. Tonight Jack was singing it while he played, "Sweet cherry pie, Bah, Bah, Bah." LOL!

A few minutes later, Grant was playing with one of Jack's toys and claiming it as his own. Jack said, "Grant, I didn't endow that toy to you." Endow was his new vocabulary word from last week. I asked him what it meant and he had a clear understanding of the word and tried earnestly to explain it to Grant (to no avail).