I downloaded this journal prompt packet to better help Jacob in his writing and I thought I would give one of the prompts a try...
Here goes...
"What is your favorite month?"
This one is EASY!
I love November. I love it for MANY reasons. I'll use a list to make my case..
1. November is the official beginning of fall for me. I know it's not the official start of fall on the calendar, but somehow, it just doesn't feel like fall to me until November.
2. NOVEMBER IS MY BIRTHDAY MONTH! I just love my birthday and I LOVE celebrating it for longer than a day!
3. November is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the first of the Holidays and it's the best time of year...until Spring comes along and then I feel like THAT is the best time of year...until Summer comes along and then I feel like THAT is the best time of year....until Fall comes around.....
4. Starbucks red holiday cups come out!
5. This year the boys did not play football and so I am LOVING the fact that we are getting to spend some quality family time more often than not.
6. FALL WEATHER! After a blistering South Texas Summer, I am really enjoying the cooler temperatures that make it much easier to be outside with the kids. (see number 5)
7. Scarves. November means cooler temps (see number 6) so I don't look like such a dork with my scarves around my neck!
8. Christmas movies! As soon as November rolls around, I feel much more validated in the watching of various Christmas that I love including such classics as: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Irving Berlin's White Christmas and The Santa Clause trilogy as well as some newer "classics" such as: Elf, Christmas With The Kranks, and The Polar Express.
Well, that's it. The reasons I love November!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
I'm feeling...
well.
I was really sick a couple of weeks ago and I'm feeling so much better. I'm STILL taking my antibiotics like a good little patient. Finishing all of it is apparently important. I'm just glad I'm better. I have NO TIME to be sick...and on top of that.... there is nothing more annoying and frustrating to me than being sick. Thank you God for making me well.
bummed.
On that note. Abby is sick. She is pitiful and sweet and asleep, finally. She is about as good a sick person as I am. Meaning she will go and go and go until she hits a wall and then she melts into a pile of helpless whiny-ness that is basically unbearable. We've been to the doctor. She has her pills...after all, she is a big girl and liquid is for babies. Not my words, hers - to the doctor!
tired.
Because it's Sunday. Sunday's make me tired. We are up early, and trying to recover from the rest of the weekend in the afternoon and if the work week could be Tuesday-Friday I'd be the happiest person alive.
anxious.
Jacob is working really hard in 4th grade, but is struggling a little in reading/writing. He is, as I said, working REALLY hard and we are praying that things start clicking for him. The same goes for both Caleb and Abby. They are both in Spanish Immersion and, on top of regular school work, learning a new language. Our prayer for them is the same, that sooner rather than later, it would just click.
proud.
Of my husband. He's pretty much awesome. He's G.R.E.A.T. at what he does and has such an AMAZING connection with students.
ready.
For this fall season. We have had a little hint of cooler weather and I have put up some fall decor as well as lit some fall candles. I am ready for fall. I'm ready for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. This promises to be a fun time in our household and I am ready.
short on time.
I keep feeling like I'm running out of time to get things accomplished....and then I tally up my time spent on Pinterest.....
maybe I should reevaluate and prioritize.
done.
with this post ;)
I was really sick a couple of weeks ago and I'm feeling so much better. I'm STILL taking my antibiotics like a good little patient. Finishing all of it is apparently important. I'm just glad I'm better. I have NO TIME to be sick...and on top of that.... there is nothing more annoying and frustrating to me than being sick. Thank you God for making me well.
bummed.
On that note. Abby is sick. She is pitiful and sweet and asleep, finally. She is about as good a sick person as I am. Meaning she will go and go and go until she hits a wall and then she melts into a pile of helpless whiny-ness that is basically unbearable. We've been to the doctor. She has her pills...after all, she is a big girl and liquid is for babies. Not my words, hers - to the doctor!
tired.
Because it's Sunday. Sunday's make me tired. We are up early, and trying to recover from the rest of the weekend in the afternoon and if the work week could be Tuesday-Friday I'd be the happiest person alive.
anxious.
Jacob is working really hard in 4th grade, but is struggling a little in reading/writing. He is, as I said, working REALLY hard and we are praying that things start clicking for him. The same goes for both Caleb and Abby. They are both in Spanish Immersion and, on top of regular school work, learning a new language. Our prayer for them is the same, that sooner rather than later, it would just click.
proud.
Of my husband. He's pretty much awesome. He's G.R.E.A.T. at what he does and has such an AMAZING connection with students.
ready.
For this fall season. We have had a little hint of cooler weather and I have put up some fall decor as well as lit some fall candles. I am ready for fall. I'm ready for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. This promises to be a fun time in our household and I am ready.
short on time.
I keep feeling like I'm running out of time to get things accomplished....and then I tally up my time spent on Pinterest.....
maybe I should reevaluate and prioritize.
done.
with this post ;)
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Stream of Consciousness
I'm about to write a blog that is completely stream of consciousness. Something many of my English teachers over the years would highly disapprove of, but they aren't here. I'm in charge of this blog and so I'll do what I want.
Anyway. Tomorrow starts a new journey in our lives. I will begin my first year teaching Kindergarten. I'm excited and nervous and then excited again. Hopefully all goes well. I have 21 students in my class and my principal asked me the other day if I was, "ok with that." First of all, do I have a choice? I didn't say that...I said, "sure, I've got God on my side." Not really sure why that was my answer, but it was and she was really excited/impressed by that. Ok. My kids start school tomorrow too. I now have a 4th grader, a 2nd grader and a 3rd grader. 2/5 of my family will be spending the majority of their day speaking Spanish...that's a little strange. Paul is REALLY excited about all of us going back to school. He will get his days back and and be able to get "a bunch of stuff done."
I'm watching the Cowboys right now and eating popcorn and chomping ice while I write this and I've told my kids to go get back in bed at least a bajillion times since 8:00. Apparently it's too hard to go to sleep "while it's still light outside"! When is Daylight savings time, again?
On a completely other hand. Church in our new building has been really good. No major glitches. Next week is our dedication service and our pastor announced that there will only be one service and sunday school next week which is going to make for, what I'm going to call, a "nursery nightmare" if you will. Oh well, we will get through it!
In other news, some of our best friends are moving in two weeks. I'm happy and sad all at the same time. Happy because it's going to be a better opportunity for him and his job as well as their family. Sad because, seriously? Does it have to be so soon and so far away? Ugh. I keep reminding myself to go back to the part of the story where God is in control. I reluctantly go back to that part of the story and God continually reminds me that His will is best, no matter how I feel about it.
It's now 8:24, the announcers on the game are showing pictures of New York City where it's pouring down rain. We haven't had rain in I don't know how long. It's getting pretty bad around here. It just doesn't matter if we water or not anymore. Everything is dying...even the cactus. Yep. Cactus'?...um....Cacti?....um....Cactuses? oh whatever....anyway....the plants that live in the DESERT are dying!
I just had a wave of nervousness about tomorrow. I really need to get a hold of that. They can smell fear, right? Kindergarteners? oh wait...is that dogs? I'm truly looking forward to this year and one of the things I've done is commit every Monday morning to pray with and for my colleagues and I'm also praying for my class. I hope that more of my colleagues show up as a result of me inviting them over and over. I would love for God to use this opportunity as a way to bring light into a dark place.
Speaking of dark place, I just switched over to CNN during half time. Need I say more...
Ok. I'm done. I'm going to finish up this evening watching mindless tv with my husband and I hope I sleep well tonight.
doubt it.
Anyway. Tomorrow starts a new journey in our lives. I will begin my first year teaching Kindergarten. I'm excited and nervous and then excited again. Hopefully all goes well. I have 21 students in my class and my principal asked me the other day if I was, "ok with that." First of all, do I have a choice? I didn't say that...I said, "sure, I've got God on my side." Not really sure why that was my answer, but it was and she was really excited/impressed by that. Ok. My kids start school tomorrow too. I now have a 4th grader, a 2nd grader and a 3rd grader. 2/5 of my family will be spending the majority of their day speaking Spanish...that's a little strange. Paul is REALLY excited about all of us going back to school. He will get his days back and and be able to get "a bunch of stuff done."
I'm watching the Cowboys right now and eating popcorn and chomping ice while I write this and I've told my kids to go get back in bed at least a bajillion times since 8:00. Apparently it's too hard to go to sleep "while it's still light outside"! When is Daylight savings time, again?
On a completely other hand. Church in our new building has been really good. No major glitches. Next week is our dedication service and our pastor announced that there will only be one service and sunday school next week which is going to make for, what I'm going to call, a "nursery nightmare" if you will. Oh well, we will get through it!
In other news, some of our best friends are moving in two weeks. I'm happy and sad all at the same time. Happy because it's going to be a better opportunity for him and his job as well as their family. Sad because, seriously? Does it have to be so soon and so far away? Ugh. I keep reminding myself to go back to the part of the story where God is in control. I reluctantly go back to that part of the story and God continually reminds me that His will is best, no matter how I feel about it.
It's now 8:24, the announcers on the game are showing pictures of New York City where it's pouring down rain. We haven't had rain in I don't know how long. It's getting pretty bad around here. It just doesn't matter if we water or not anymore. Everything is dying...even the cactus. Yep. Cactus'?...um....Cacti?....um....Cactuses? oh whatever....anyway....the plants that live in the DESERT are dying!
I just had a wave of nervousness about tomorrow. I really need to get a hold of that. They can smell fear, right? Kindergarteners? oh wait...is that dogs? I'm truly looking forward to this year and one of the things I've done is commit every Monday morning to pray with and for my colleagues and I'm also praying for my class. I hope that more of my colleagues show up as a result of me inviting them over and over. I would love for God to use this opportunity as a way to bring light into a dark place.
Speaking of dark place, I just switched over to CNN during half time. Need I say more...
Ok. I'm done. I'm going to finish up this evening watching mindless tv with my husband and I hope I sleep well tonight.
doubt it.
Monday, June 13, 2011
BraveRespectfulAvailableNeighborDevoted
A couple weeks ago our family took a short weekend trip to a nearby lake and stayed in a lake house owned by some dear church members. Paul and I desperately needed some "vacation time" after school let out and this was the perfect opportunity for us to get away and spend some good quality family time.
We got to the house and the first thing the kids noticed was the chess board....so....I taught them to play chess.
I bet they played chess more than 50 times over the weekend. They played with each other, they played with Paul and I. Sometimes they won, sometimes they lost. It was wonderful to watch them play such a thoughtful game and enjoy the company of each other while doing it!.
We watched a lot of Animal Planet and Softball in the evenings. We fished. We did NOT catch....
Paul also had an idea to spend some concentrated Bible Study time as a family. So he used our last name as an acrostic and drew the concepts out of some familiar stories in the Bible. The kids were really excited about this (actually)! So the first night we went through the first two letters of our last name.
B
R
Brave
and
Respectful
Paul taught us the story about David and his friends being taken into Nebedchadnezzar's kingdom. ...you know the one....
David had to be BRAVE to ask the guard to serve him and his friends different food. He also had to be RESPECTFUL when he asked the guard because if he were rude or disrespectful his request might not have been granted.
The kids really grabbed ahold of the concepts...maybe a little TOO well! They started correcting each other throughout the day saying, "that's not respectful" and "just be brave and go get me a drink".
The next day was the story of the good Samaritan and the letters
A
N
Available
and
Neighbor
He told us the story and then we watched a You Tube video depicting the story through Legos! Yep, that got their attention! It also got the point across. We talked about how being available doesn't mean just "being around" but it means to also be WILLING to help someone in need and being a neighbor is not just the "next door" kind but making yourself available to others in love and compassion and kindness.
Again, the kids really "got it"!
They started calling each other out about being available and neighborly! Paul and I were glad they were getting the points of our Bible stories and concepts, but we had to keep reminding them to actually BE respectful to each other while they were reminding each other of the other things we talked about.
And finally...
D
Devoted
This one brought everything full circle. The reason why David needed to be brave and respectful was because he was devoted to God. God was more important than the King's diet and so he devoted himself to God and bravely and respectfully asked for new food. The reason the Samaritan stopped to help the robbed man was because his devotion to God caused him to have love and compassion for the hurt man.
I got another idea to extend these lessons even further....I'm pretty sure it was a God thing. Since there are 5 of us and 5 letters in our last name, I had the idea to do a family art project. Each of us took a letter and a concept and painted a picture. After praying about our pictures....this is what resulted....
Caleb had "B" for "brave". His painting is of the letter B with big muscles showing that he's brave.
Love.
Paul had "R" for "respectful". His painting is of two people (stick people ;) of course) being respectful to each other.
Love.
Abby had "A" for "available". Her painting (clearly) is of Daddy helping to change someone else's tire on the side of the road. Can you see it?
Love.
Jacob had "N" for "neighbor". His painting is of a "spiky haired guy" working on his friends 4X4. It's not his next door neighbor...he's being a neighbor because loves his friend enough to help him... in case you didn't know. ;)
Love.
I had "D" for "devoted". I was wondering how I was going to paint "devoted" but when I asked the kids what it meant I got my answer. Caleb answered, "Devoted is like 'sticking to' something!" Yes! So I painted "sticky notes" with notes about the things that our family is devoted to.
Love.
This art will be displayed proudly in my kitchen very soon and
I.
LOVE.
IT.
We got to the house and the first thing the kids noticed was the chess board....so....I taught them to play chess.
I bet they played chess more than 50 times over the weekend. They played with each other, they played with Paul and I. Sometimes they won, sometimes they lost. It was wonderful to watch them play such a thoughtful game and enjoy the company of each other while doing it!.
We watched a lot of Animal Planet and Softball in the evenings. We fished. We did NOT catch....
Paul also had an idea to spend some concentrated Bible Study time as a family. So he used our last name as an acrostic and drew the concepts out of some familiar stories in the Bible. The kids were really excited about this (actually)! So the first night we went through the first two letters of our last name.
B
R
Brave
and
Respectful
Paul taught us the story about David and his friends being taken into Nebedchadnezzar's kingdom. ...you know the one....
David had to be BRAVE to ask the guard to serve him and his friends different food. He also had to be RESPECTFUL when he asked the guard because if he were rude or disrespectful his request might not have been granted.
The kids really grabbed ahold of the concepts...maybe a little TOO well! They started correcting each other throughout the day saying, "that's not respectful" and "just be brave and go get me a drink".
The next day was the story of the good Samaritan and the letters
A
N
Available
and
Neighbor
He told us the story and then we watched a You Tube video depicting the story through Legos! Yep, that got their attention! It also got the point across. We talked about how being available doesn't mean just "being around" but it means to also be WILLING to help someone in need and being a neighbor is not just the "next door" kind but making yourself available to others in love and compassion and kindness.
Again, the kids really "got it"!
They started calling each other out about being available and neighborly! Paul and I were glad they were getting the points of our Bible stories and concepts, but we had to keep reminding them to actually BE respectful to each other while they were reminding each other of the other things we talked about.
And finally...
D
Devoted
This one brought everything full circle. The reason why David needed to be brave and respectful was because he was devoted to God. God was more important than the King's diet and so he devoted himself to God and bravely and respectfully asked for new food. The reason the Samaritan stopped to help the robbed man was because his devotion to God caused him to have love and compassion for the hurt man.
I got another idea to extend these lessons even further....I'm pretty sure it was a God thing. Since there are 5 of us and 5 letters in our last name, I had the idea to do a family art project. Each of us took a letter and a concept and painted a picture. After praying about our pictures....this is what resulted....
Caleb had "B" for "brave". His painting is of the letter B with big muscles showing that he's brave.
Love.
Paul had "R" for "respectful". His painting is of two people (stick people ;) of course) being respectful to each other.
Love.
Abby had "A" for "available". Her painting (clearly) is of Daddy helping to change someone else's tire on the side of the road. Can you see it?
Love.
Jacob had "N" for "neighbor". His painting is of a "spiky haired guy" working on his friends 4X4. It's not his next door neighbor...he's being a neighbor because loves his friend enough to help him... in case you didn't know. ;)
Love.
I had "D" for "devoted". I was wondering how I was going to paint "devoted" but when I asked the kids what it meant I got my answer. Caleb answered, "Devoted is like 'sticking to' something!" Yes! So I painted "sticky notes" with notes about the things that our family is devoted to.
Love.
This art will be displayed proudly in my kitchen very soon and
I.
LOVE.
IT.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
A Mother's Day Overview
It all started last night at dinner. Paul and the kids made me dinner and each had a WONDERFUL thing to say about me and my "mom skills". Then we played a very "serious" game of Ninja and hung out as a family.
I was woken up this morning by my three beautiful children, each bearing a hand-drawn card they had made for me. My husband got them all ready for church and then took them to Starbucks to get my favorite cup of coffee. We worshipped together as a family and then went to lunch with some friends.
After lunch we headed out to a Missions game, where much more fun was in store for us!
When we got there we found out that moms and their kids got to go onto the field for the National anthem. While we were on the field Caleb and Jacob got to take a ground ball from a Missions player and keep the ball!
Our seats were directly behind the dugout...which was handy for the kids to put their drinks on! So every time the Missions came in from the field the kids called for a ball from a player. Finally in the 9th inning, Abby got a ball from a player. At the end of the 7th inning, I got to go up on top of the dugout and play a game...and I WON a $25 gift certificate!
At the end of the game we hung around the entrance to the locker room and got some autographs.
I was such a FUN day! Happy Mother's Day to me!
I was woken up this morning by my three beautiful children, each bearing a hand-drawn card they had made for me. My husband got them all ready for church and then took them to Starbucks to get my favorite cup of coffee. We worshipped together as a family and then went to lunch with some friends.
After lunch we headed out to a Missions game, where much more fun was in store for us!
When we got there we found out that moms and their kids got to go onto the field for the National anthem. While we were on the field Caleb and Jacob got to take a ground ball from a Missions player and keep the ball!
Our seats were directly behind the dugout...which was handy for the kids to put their drinks on! So every time the Missions came in from the field the kids called for a ball from a player. Finally in the 9th inning, Abby got a ball from a player. At the end of the 7th inning, I got to go up on top of the dugout and play a game...and I WON a $25 gift certificate!
At the end of the game we hung around the entrance to the locker room and got some autographs.
I was such a FUN day! Happy Mother's Day to me!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Gun Strategy
So I've been sitting here with my computer open for almost the entire episode of The Biggest Loser trying to figure out what to write about. There are many things. Do I want to talk about all the good things that God is doing in my life? Do I want to be profound and talk about what I'm learning? Do I want to toot my own horn and talk about how well my classes are doing? Do I want to be a proud mama and talk about how well my kids are doing in school? Do I want to talk about how busy the schedule is right now? ...so busy that my husband and I have literally put family time and date time on the calendar.... Do I want to talk about all the baseball successes in our family right now?
no....
I want to talk about Jacob's TAKS strategy.
A little background. Over the past few weeks, Jacob's teacher and I have been talking about Jacob's reading strategy... specifically for TAKS. His reading grades have not been super over the last few weeks. He just has a hard time focusing on passages that are pages long! For goodness sake! He's NINE! Anyway.... He's been bring home 70's and 50's to correct over the last few weeks. Not great. So yesterday Paul took him out of school early and had a guys day. They went to the shooting range to shoot Paul's handgun and then to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodderick Rules. They both had a great time and this morning on the way to school Jacob and I came up with a new reading strategy.
It's called the Gun Strategy. It goes like this....
1. loading the clip = reading the passage the first time
2. putting the gun on safety = reading the passage again to gain understanding
3. taking aim at the target = reading the question and marking the paragraph for important information
4. Firing = answering the question correctly
So I let his teacher (WHO IS F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C.) in on the strategy and she thought it was a great idea because it speaks to Jacob and his interests. She also told me that he would have a couple of times to practice today. So this afternoon I get a text from Jacob/Paul with a picture and the caption "The Gun Strategy WORKS!"
Well....see for yourself!
no....
I want to talk about Jacob's TAKS strategy.
A little background. Over the past few weeks, Jacob's teacher and I have been talking about Jacob's reading strategy... specifically for TAKS. His reading grades have not been super over the last few weeks. He just has a hard time focusing on passages that are pages long! For goodness sake! He's NINE! Anyway.... He's been bring home 70's and 50's to correct over the last few weeks. Not great. So yesterday Paul took him out of school early and had a guys day. They went to the shooting range to shoot Paul's handgun and then to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodderick Rules. They both had a great time and this morning on the way to school Jacob and I came up with a new reading strategy.
It's called the Gun Strategy. It goes like this....
1. loading the clip = reading the passage the first time
2. putting the gun on safety = reading the passage again to gain understanding
3. taking aim at the target = reading the question and marking the paragraph for important information
4. Firing = answering the question correctly
So I let his teacher (WHO IS F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C.) in on the strategy and she thought it was a great idea because it speaks to Jacob and his interests. She also told me that he would have a couple of times to practice today. So this afternoon I get a text from Jacob/Paul with a picture and the caption "The Gun Strategy WORKS!"
Well....see for yourself!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
70 years of marriage
My Grandparents are celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary next week. SEVENTY YEARS! Is that unimaginable to anyone else? I mean, Paul and I have been married for 11 years and it feels like a long time...not in a bad way, just the passage of a lot of time. I cannot even imagine 70 years. A few facts about the year they were married, 1941
* Lenn T. Seaborg isolates and discovers plutonium
* First issue of "Captain America" comes out
* Cheerios was introduced
* The New York Yankees win the world series
* Walt Disney releases "Dumbo"
* "Chattanooga Choo Choo" by Glenn Miller gets the first gold record
* The first solid-body electric guitar is made by Les Paul
* Gas was $.19, bread was $.08, a house was $6954.00, a car was $925, and minium wage was $.30 an hour
Things sure have changed. One thing that has stayed the same, through 70 years, is the love that my grandparents share. I pray I get to love my husband for 70 years.
* Lenn T. Seaborg isolates and discovers plutonium
* First issue of "Captain America" comes out
* Cheerios was introduced
* The New York Yankees win the world series
* Walt Disney releases "Dumbo"
* "Chattanooga Choo Choo" by Glenn Miller gets the first gold record
* The first solid-body electric guitar is made by Les Paul
* Gas was $.19, bread was $.08, a house was $6954.00, a car was $925, and minium wage was $.30 an hour
Things sure have changed. One thing that has stayed the same, through 70 years, is the love that my grandparents share. I pray I get to love my husband for 70 years.
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