Lessons From The Classroom - Thankful Tree

In light of the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday, and the need to spice up the Fall decor in our house:), we have been working on a special activity.  We call it the Thankful Tree.  I've seen this idea from many other sites and thought it was great!

We went outside and gathered some sticks.  You can spray paint them if you want.  Then, we sat down and talked about Fall Colors.  We picked out all of our fall color paint and painted some construction paper.  Later, we took a walk outside and the kids picked out a couple of their favorite leaves.  We use those to trace the leave shapes on the paper.  They are then cut out and taped on the sticks.

Here's the "Thankful" part.  Each day we are thinking of something relevant (this just means that if they say "for all the people in the world", we narrow it down a little bit, or make it a bit more practical, ha!) that we are thankful for and write it on a leaf.

If you remember, last week I started another new activity, as well.  Whenever the kids start bickering at each other they have to stop and take turns telling each other things that they are thankful for, or appreciate, about the other one.  It helps get their minds off of their quarrel and back on to their hearts.

How about you, have you been having some Thankful fun this week?

It's Time For Christmas Cards

My friend, Heidi, just took our annual family photos last week and we are beginning to put together our Christmas cards to send out.  There are SO many companies to decide from when it comes to getting your Christmas cards out.

This year we're going with Shutterfly.  One of the reasons we like Shutterfly because they have set shipping, and when we order pictures, WE.ORDER.PICTURES!  Not only do they have your standard Christmas Photo Cards, but they have Photo Christmas Gifts, Photo Invitations and Photo Gift Tags so you can personalize your whole Christmas Season:)

This year we are doing a bit more than just your standard Christmas card.  We are going to make some photo cards as prayer cards for our Adoption!

As an added Bonus for Bloggers, Shutterfly is willing to partner with you.  They are giving away 50 FREE Christmas cards!  So, go to SHUTTERFLY and inquire about their Blogger Promotion...and go look around at their great selection of Photo Gifts and Christmas Cards while you are there!

Wake Up Happy Rule

I've always been a schedule momma and I'm not ashamed to say it.  I've stuck pretty close to the Baby Wise method and it has worked for us.  It doesn't mean that it is the only way to parent, it is just the only way WE have chosen to parent.  It works, and when we find something that works, I'm not really inclined to change much, ya know?

That being said, I have had a breakthrough with Micaiah.

It has always taken Micaiah a L-O-N-G time to fully wake up after a nap.

I mean, maybe you have "one of those kids" who automatically wakes up and talks and plays when they wake up from a nap, but Cai - not so much.

Until one day.

I had accidentally left a toy caterpillar rattle in his bed with him.  It was about the time he usually wakes up and I thought I kept hearing something from his room.

Finally, I got up and stood by his door and listened.

Sure enough, he was sitting in his bed, talking to himself and playing with his little toy as he waited patiently for me to come and get him out of bed.

What?!  Why in the world had I never thought of this before???  Maybe because "the book" said to never put toys in the child's bed because he might get confused with play time and sleep time.

So, even though my wonderful book of parenting advice has rarely failed me, I have come to a new conclusion: Maybe a toy or two in the bed isn't such a bad idea after all.  It may, in fact, become the sweetest distraction for the whole family to divert his "I'm awake, get me up!" scream.

Have you found anything that helps your baby wake up happy?  I'd love to hear some other tricks in case he becomes immune to the toy-in-the-bed thing:)

Not Me Monday

Areyna is such a wonderful student 100% of the time.  She always does exactly what I ask of her.

And being the kind of student that she is, she would never roll her eyes at me when it comes time to do school.

Nope, not Areyna.  Not MY child!

Where in the world would she get that kind of attitude from anyway?!

Not me!


That being said,

I'd never have to keep interrupting her "guessing game" while continuing to say "Just SOUND IT OUT!  The word is right there!  You JUST read it 2 seconds ago...before you kicked the chair over with your foot while rolling around on the floor!"

Geez.  What kind of mother would lose her temper over a reading lesson anyway.

Not me!

I would never, then threaten to enroll Areyna into an all-day, every-day Kindergarten class because she continued to stare off into space and roll around on the floor instead of read the words on the page!  Or better yet, just give up and say "school is over for today" and walk out of the room.

Nope, not me!  Our schooling goes way more smoothly than that;)

You CAN Make A Difference

How can you look at a face like this

and NOT melt?!

Each of these children have a future.

We can help make sure that their future is secure.

You CAN Make A Difference In A Child's Life!

By sponsoring a child for only $30/month YOU can ensure that:

they have food, education, and the much needed medical treatment they deserve.

Above all else, YOU can ensure that they grow up hearing 

about the HOPE and TRUTH of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Come out to Journey this weekend to see which child you are going to sponsor.

"Religion that God our Father accepts 

as pure and faultless is this: 

to look after orphans and widows in their distress 

and to keep oneself 

from being polluted by the world."

James 1:27

Fun Facts For Friday

Boy are you in for a treat today!  I've got lots of Fun Facts to throw at you today:)

1 - Why is it that when I'm trying to be really quiet...I continually drop things, the kitchen cabinet doors slip out of my fingers and slam shut, the toilet seat seems to crash down and my cell phone starts going bonkers?!  Poor Josh was probably ready to throw something at me this morning!

2 - I love when my kids take things literally.  Like, when their arm or leg falls asleep they say: "My leg is really tired." or "My arm is sleepy and won't wake up."=)

3 - I talked on the phone to my sister-in-law for a total of 1 hr. and 41 min.  For anyone who knows me, you know that is a BIG DEAL!  Especially since it is the sister-in-law that I see on at least a weekly basis...  What in the world did we talk about anyway?!

4 - I've started a new discipline trick this week, in light of Thanksgiving.  When the kids start fighting or bickering with each other I make them STOP, look each other in the face and take turns telling each other three things that they love or are thankful for about the other one.  It seems to be working, at least in 20 minute increments.

5 - I have been working my butt off getting these Orphanage Sponsor Packets ready for Sunday.  Hopefully I'll be bringing them to Journey to get these kids funded!

6 - We went and filled up our Shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.  I absolutely LOVE doing this and the kids really enjoyed picking out special things for their boxes, but oh.my.goodness...I about have an anxiety attack walking into the Dollar Tree with 3 kids who want to put one of everything in their box and oh my goodness, if it doesn't all fit in there...

7 - No Shave November was a no-go in this house.  Well, at least for me, that is!  Yes, Josh beat me, but I hate it when my leg hair begins catching on the material inside of my jeans.  I'm just kidding, but Josh did try to talk me into abstaining from shaving this month, ewww!

8 - This is what happened when I sat down with my cup of coffee this morning!

Nope, that is not from the bean casserole I made last night

because I don't like beans so I'd never make a bean casserole...

but anywho...

I sat down and my favorite jammie bottoms totally ripped write down the butt=(

It was time for them to be retired since I bought them, like 6 years ago!

9 - This one is just a freebie because I can't just have 9 facts.  That just doesn't feel right.

10 - I could hardly get my mind to slow down long enough to fall asleep last night.  And then I woke up REALLY early, hence the reason I was up before Josh, and when I DID wake up I felt like I'd already had 3 cups of coffee.  And you better believe I made one more, because if I hadn't made another cup of coffee I wouldn't have been able to sit down and rip my favorite pair of jammy bottoms, now would I, ha!

Let The Journey Begin - It's A Big Day!

As I write this, Josh is on his to the post office with Areyna and Zeke 

to mail our application off to our agency.

Yes, we found a great agency.

Yes, we are going through with this.

No, there is no turning back now.

Yes, we're SO excited.

Full steam ahead!

Only A Storm Lover

Only a storm lover get giddy over looking at a map like this, ha!

"Little Star"

You may remember when I reviewed the book, This Little Prayer of Mine by Anthony DeStefano.

Well, he has sent me his next children's book titled, Little Star.  It is the story of the birth of Jesus' through the perspective of the Bright Star that shown on that night.

It's really cute!  In fact, I liked it more than the first book that I read.  I like the illustrations.  I liked the fact that Little Star was bold enough to shine when all the other stars wouldn't believe that Jesus was, indeed, the King of Kings.

It takes quite a few liberties, but hey, it's a children's book!

Make sure you check out, Little Star!  It's a super cute read, especially as we near the Christmas season.