Farm Days

4 Week old calf

Milking a cow

Milking a Goat

Little bit of pig fun

My very own "Rooster" (Emma's nickname) with her rooster

Love how Emma takes such great delight in things.  Watch the following video to see why

Loved our time at WVU Farm Kids Days.  It was a bittersweet thing as this is the last year I will make it there with my kids.  Gonna miss them when they are both in school.

I want to be...

In February Lydia wrote and essay about what she wants to be when she grows up.  We entered it in the SMART529 essay contest in hopes of winning some scholarship money but it didn't win.  Oh well, there is always next year.

Though parents and teachers are allowed to help I chose to let her writing truly reflect where she is in her writing ability and offered nothing but encouragement to write the words she thought were best.  Here is what she wrote.

When I grow up I want to be a cook.  I like going to the Union Mission to help make food.  I go there to make food for people who don't have food.  Each time I go I help other people cook.  So far I have helped make toast and cut potatoes.  I made soup and grilled cheese.  I think being a cook would be fun because I love making things.  People need to eat so I will always be helping people.

I think she did a great job and I know she meant every word she wrote.  She has a great heart to serve people and is a great helper.  She really does delight in serving at the Union Mission and wishes we did it every week.  I pray that she would continue to have a zeal to serve and bless people.  I look forward to her being old enough to accompany me on mission trips both near and far. 

Lord, draw Lydia to you.  Allow Your passion for the lost and hurting in this world to become her passion.  May Your heart to heal and nurture become her heart.  And as scary as those word are to pray sometimes, I pray for my mommy heart to release her into your care that she can effect great change for You in the ways that You have uniquely and specially gifted her.  Amen.

Imperfections Revealed

I thought you could all use a laugh and so I am inviting you into my life. This is a glimpse into my real life, you know, the stuff I don't always show on here!  It is easy to think highly of someone else when we don't see their imperfections on a daily basis.  We (or is it just me? Nah!) may even think their life is easier or better because we have put them on a pedestal.  Here are just a few examples of how imperfect my life is and how grateful I am that parenting and living is not meant to be done perfectly but by the grace of God.

This is a video in which BOTH of my children show a great deal of selfishness and well, correction never does seem to stop on this issue.  Even in my own adult life.

Next is a picture I captured on my phone while in the checkout at Walmart.  Now I know Walmart can make just about anybody grumpy but once again learning to use self-control is important in this world.

Instigation and rebuttal.

Now to tell on myself, I am a menu planner and had a crockpot chicken on the menu for Monday night.  I had a play date with a great friend and we hand an impromptu shopping trip and I totally forgot about getting the crockpot started so I had to make a quick menu change.  I was a bit upset with myself but the other meal turned out quite tasty and no harm was done.  I had the chicken ready for Tuesday night but got caught up in a bunch of other things throughout the day and forgot again and the chicken was not done by dinner.  I was completely upset with myself because there were no other choices than to go out to eat.  I haven't been shopping since vacation last week and was trying to make it the whole week without getting anything from the store.  It was completely possible IF I followed the menu which I didn't.  Ugh!  We went out to Cracker Barrel and even had some problems there.  Nothing more than a few miscommunications between my flustered self and the waiter but Justin and I had a good laugh about it. 

Sometimes life is like that.  We either laugh or cry.  Of course becoming anxious, upset, angry or withdrawn are all in my arsenal of nasty reactions too.  I am sure you can relate to the dailiness of life.  More than anything I pray that you find hope for your weary soul that we all go through things that are far from perfect but in the midst of that we have a God who is with us every step of the way.  Blessings!

Crafts and Sitcoms

This one is for you Jenni!

Our family was sitting around after dinner making perler bead creations.  Emma wanted a kitty and in her typical style with this very fine motor activity Justin (yes, Justin) ended up doing all the work.  As we were working on these crafts we of course had to teach our kids the soft kitty song.  Here is the completed "Soft Kitty".

"Soft Kitty"

Easter Activities

He is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!

I love Easter.  The story of Easter is what give us hope in this dark world and is the most life changing story of all time.  We have already been working through some activities surrounding the Easter story and the girls are getting to better understand a rather difficult story.

Next week, we will review the Passion week activities starting with Palm Sunday.  The book we are basing our activities is found here on Amazon.  Each day and part of the story has a different color assigned to it.

Green - palms
Purple - bread and wine shared with friends
Red - Jesus' death
Brown - grave
White - Angel said "He's Risen"
Yellow - bright sun

It is just a nice, simple book that is not too deep for little kids to understand.  Because the girls are much older and able to understand I plan on reviewing the Exodus from Egypt more to help them understand the idea of sacrifice and the idea of the perfect lamb.  One day I want to plan a real Seder dinner but not just yet.

I have seen pictures of lots of different Resurrection Gardens and have plans for making one of our own.

Lots of fun and reflection involved.  Blessings to you and praying you come to a greater understanding of the Hope of Easter!

Leprechan Shenanigans

Lydia really felt excited about St. Patrick's Day when she came home from school yesterday so I went with it.  I already had some activities planned but including a Leprechaun house/trap was not one of them.  Having seen some ideas earlier this week from on of my all time favorite cute idea blogs (Happy Home Fairy) we decorated and set up a nice little Leprechaun friendly space.

Leprechaun House

Shamrock's left by the Leprechaun.

Balloon's too!

Excitement and big smiles!

Green pancake's with rainbow sprinkles.

Balloon and paddle fun.

I also printed out some crafts and a few other activities that I saw this week on ABC and 123.

Fun memories in the making.  Did you do anything special for St. Patrick's day?

Nursery Rhymes - 2

This is the second installment of the nursery rhyme unit I am doing with Emma.  Enjoy and thanks for reading!

Hey Diddle Diddle

Craft from Spell Out Loud

Writing farm words

Not too bad!

Farm riddle matching book

More smiles!

Little Boy Blue

Adding hay to the haystack

Scissor practice with blue paper (for Little Boy Blue)

Farm animal counting from Making Learning Fun

Farm animal mother/baby matching puzzles

To see the first 2 nursery rhymes we learned check out this post.  

On a side note to any local moms who are reading this.  I am ready to part with these farm activities as they really are too simple for my kids.  If you want them to plan your own farm theme around just let me know.  Thanks.