Surviving

I know I am not really “just surviving.”  That is a title that should be reserved for people suffering disease or loss.  I, on the other hand, am just trying to be a single mom lately.  (To all you single moms out there, you are amazing.  I know it is usually not a choice, and it is not your dream.  You have a heavy burden to bear, and I admire your tenacity.)  Jeremy has basically been gone for the past two weeks for work.  It feels like longer because I am pretty sure it was a number a days a different week prior to these two, but I have kinda lost count.  He is home now, and I feel like I can breathe just a little more.   Needless to say, the blog has been on the back burner. 

What have we done? 

• cleaned and painted (again) at the townhouse (thanks AGAIN, Mom!)
• volunteered at MCC Connections – checking markers this time
• memorized some more scripture (“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, Jesus” John 3:16, and “Give freely” Deuteronomy 15:10)
• experimented with melting ice
• hung out at Starbucks while I met with my classmate about a presentation we are doing (tonight!)
• went to Ashland to visit cousins
• started Mini-Notes choir (Madison – and she did a great job Sunday singing!)
• had a play date with Tara and Grace – finally!  It had been since before the new year started, and it was so good to reconnect.
• took a meal to a family in church
• reconnected with neighbors as we peddle around the neighborhood
• biked to the park for a morning play date with Rachael and Gracie
• played dress up
• put away their “cooking ingredients” more times than I can count (mixture of tangrams, foam blocks, and magnetic letters – sorted every time!)
• watched at least one movie
• visited grandparents
• went to pancake breakfasts to support Ruritans (and Papa Yoh)
• watched two NCAA March Madness games IN Columbus! (Jeremy’s fun)
• invited Ben, Steph, Cale, and Landen for supper

Yep, that’s the list.  I try to stay busy.  I think sometimes it might become too busy, but then we are here for more than a day, I start going a little crazy knowing the day is not going to end with any reinforcements, just me.  Most of the things I have really enjoyed.  II is good to get outside walking, biking, breathing fresh air.  It is good and relaxing to have people over or go visit others.  It is good to memorize scripture – we talked about giving freely and sharing and blessing others with our love.  Cleaning up toys and school work…well let’s just say, I need to really work at being cheerful when doing or talking about those. 

What am I looking forward to?

• getting outside and trying my bike out I got for Christmas
• being done with school
• going to a conference and hanging out with college friends
• having time for my monthly supper with Laura
• finding time to take food to our neighbor that just had a baby
• going down to check in our neighbors who have been dealing with sickness lately
• Easter – a time of new birth
• Jeremy being home for at least two weeks
• being finished working on the townhouse
• going to pick out new glasses
• getting a new cell phone
• taking time to take pictures

What do I wish I could do?

• go somewhere on an airplane
• sleep in past eight o’clock
• go shopping - by myself (for something more fun than groceries, but I think even grocery shopping by myself would be fun)
• sell the townhouse (hoping this really happens and sooner rather than later…..)

That’s it… .my life in bullet points.  Seem shallow?  Maybe, but just remember I was/am a little overwhelmed.  Okay, here is one picture of Madison’s fancy dress up time.  Much classier than I manage to pull off sometimes  

I will attempt a blog next Monday to get back on schedule.  If not, I will blog when my class is officially over… so April 7ish.  Have a great week.

Painting

I feel like my life has revolved around two things lately – painting the townhouse and trying to do my classwork.  Sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? 

Painting… two weekends ago, my mom, Jeremy, and I went to Columbus to paint.  We painted from 8pm-2am and 7am-2pm (13 hours).  We were able to put the primer coat pretty much everywhere.  Our project was slightly delayed because when we got there the thermostat in the townhouse read 49F.  A little chilly… even too cold to paint - according to the paint can it must be at least 50F.  We had to call the furnace people to come out for an after hours service call; the guy cleaned the pilot light sensor and was out the door in about 15 minutes.  Thankfully, it was a small problem.  We left that weekend with mom and Jeremy pushing the van up the road in about 8-9 inches of snow!  We were all sore, exhausted, and ready to be done with paint.  Thankfully, the girls were not there underfoot.  The Yohs kept them for an overnight adventure; they had a blast with Grandma and Papa – a Frozen movie night, making snowmen rice krispie treats, and playing in the snow.

Last weekend, mom and I went to paint on Friday about 1.  The girls started with my dad, who took them to Yohs, who kept them overnight.  (Does this remind you of the nursery rhyme, “This is the house that Jack built”?)  Mom and I started painting at 3pm and ended at 2am.  We top coated the upstairs and main floor by the end of that.  Mom woke up at 6am; I slept til 7am.  We just kept going til 6pm… a second top coat in the kitchen, a top coat down the stairs, and in the basement.  Jeremy joined us on Saturday about 10am.  He put a layer on paint in the master bedroom with the cathedral ceilings; there are benefits to being tall!  We kept painting the insides of each closet.  We were done (except a small pantry recess, the unfinished basement wall, and the basement bathroom…which just needs a lot of love).  If you lost count of the hours, it was 22 hours of painting and 5 hours of sleep in 27 hours time.  It was also almost 4 gallons of primer, 6 gallons of top coat, and 3 more gallons of just white paint; we are thankful that Sherwin-Williams was having a 30% off sale!  Relief, exhaustion, and wishing someone would just buy it.

Grad classes are hard for me this session.  It is not as much the content, but the time requirements.  We are needing to be in the classroom a lot.  The problems with this are 1) I don’t have a classroom and 2) I can’t take my kids to school with me.  Thankfully, Dalton is letting me come in and do some work at their school , and I have amazing parents and in-laws who are willing to watch the girls for bits and pieces of time while I get to the school.  It is a juggling aact that involves more than just Jeremy and me! 

In other news… Jeremy was gone for 4 days in Nevada for work.  He traveled about 1000miles in the middle of nowhere, maybe somewhere near Reno.  He managed to hit the ski slopes at the end of the time.  He said they were jealous of all the snow we have been getting out east; strangely, we have more snow than Lake Tahoe area.  The girls and I hung out together, visited Grandma and Papa DeeDee, invited Luke, Steph, Lilli, and Sam for supper, and played.  I think we did pretty well surviving.  The house, however, is just surviving.  After cleaning and painting elsewhere, there is little motivation for taking care of here.  (Although I think tomorrow it will happen!)  This is one room heavily influenced by days of imaginative play as Jeremy and I try to get caught up from being gone.

   

We have had time to make snow ice cream for the first time.

We did a few of our Once a Day activities – birthday card to Ashel (our Compassion friend), book and outing (Mabel the tooth fairy and a trip to the dentist), and dancing.  We have kept up with our Bible memory.  They are doing a great job and so proud to recite it.  This last week was “Do not be afraid” Isaiah 43:5.

Today, the dresses for weddings came out.  It was quite fancy!

    

That’s the two week update.  Hope everyone is finding some joy in the beautiful snow God has gifted us with.  I know we are all ready for spring, but you have to admit snow is not all that bad…  Blessings in the week ahead.

Valentine’s Day Week

We had a lot going on last week, so here are the highlights.  The girls had their last swim lesson (posted this last week).  Ellie had her last story time; she took heart cookies for a Valentine’s party.  Madison had her preschool Valentine’s party; she came home with a stash of cards and candy!  It was fun to see her trying to read all the names on the Valentine’s cards; sometimes she even knew which kid gave a card because of what it was.  It is amazing they pick up on each other’s interests at such a young age. 
Jeremy won the husband of the year award with showers of gifts this year.  He had a Valentine’s card for me early commemorating our 10 years of Valentine’s days together.  He bought me a dozen red roses another night.  We went out on a lunch date on Wednesday.  My parents surprised us by taking the girls for the night on Thursday.  So, we went out to Oak Grove Eatery in Wooster.  The food, while pricier than our usual meals out, was delicious!!  It was also nice to just sit and talk and not feel rushed to get home.  Jeremy was flexible enough to meet me there even though he had been gone – driving the countryside – for work since early morning.  (I would have just wanted to get home, I think; so, thanks, Jeremy, for sacrificing your time for me.) 

Then, on Valentine’s Day we had a family night with a fancy dinner.  We decorated with hearts the girls had made.  We got out the fancy dishes and place mats.  I made red themed food. 
 
The girls picked out our clothes for our fancy meal.  They did a great job, don’t you think?

    

I made a white velvet cake with buttercream frosting.  The girls put on the candy hearts and picked the words and design. 

It was a nice night as a family.
On Thursday, the girls and I volunteered at MCC Connections for the first time.  We hope to be able to do this about once a month.  (As a side note, I think this is their slow time donation-wise, so if you are stuck inside, clean out your stuff, and donate it!) 

Madison worked on sorting crayons – crayola and off brand.

Ellie and I worked on testing pens – working and not working.  Ellie had fun throwing the bad ones away.


The girls are doing a great job with their Bible memory verses.  I am amazed with how well little minds memorize and soak things in.  Last week for the letter B, they learned, “Be thankful in all things.” I Thessalonians 5:18.  This week for C, they are learning, “A cheerful is good medicine” Proverbs 17:22.  We decided we would just hang them up in our stairway, so we could remember them and see the alphabet all year long! 
In other news, our renters moved out of the townhouse.  We are working on getting it cleaned, painted, and carpeted to sell it.  It gets listed in March, so if you know anyone wanting an affordable 2 bedroom townhouse in Columbus, let us know.  It is in a great location near Easton and Polaris, about a 1/2 mi from the bike trail, and overlooks a ravine to Alum Creek.  Really, I loved the place while we were there.  Because of the lack of yard, it would not be my favorite spot for kids, but there are sidewalks, parks, and it is a quiet cul-de-sac; in the end, it would work. 
Hope everyone is staying warm in these frigid temps.  Have a great weekend.

Swimming

Monday was the last day of swimming for the girls.  Ellie on the way wsa very tentative.  She said she was scared she would have to jump in again.  It was almost a total loss when we got there – excuses to go to the bathroom, crying – but she recovered, and had a great time.

Madison was very enthusiastic and determined to jump off the block this time.  She has a great time – waving while she is swimming, smiling, and so proud.  She did jump off the block, but kept a hand with the teacher each time.  She is growing up!  (This is her friend, Micah, swimming with her.)

         

Otherwise, we have had a good week.  We took the girls out on Daddy-Daughter/Mommy-Daugter dates on Friday.  Jeremy and Madison went to Bob Evan’s for hot chocolate, and Ellie and I went to Panera for hot chocolate.  (Bob Evan’s is by far the better deal in case you are wondering.)  We had a great time hanging out.  When Jeremy texted to say they were on their way to pick us up, Ellie frowned and said, “But we aren’t done with our date yet.”  She had been talking non-stop – literally – for the entire time.  Mostly she told imaginary stories about her cousins.  Not her real cousins.  Her pretend cousins.  Yep, not sure if she sees them or just likes the idea of always having a story for every occasion.  Oh well, we’ll indulge her. 

For our activity of the day, we fit in a number of things, but not all of them this week.  Here is the folder to house our plans:  As we complete them, we just take them off the chart.  If we ever neglect one, we can always use it to fill time another day,

    

On Thursday, we did a science experiment, “Which one will erupt?”  It was a fun, easy experiment using baking powder, cornstarch, and baking soda. Here they are, ready to go!
 
They felt each one just to see if they could tell a difference.  Then, they predicted before they started – both with the correct prediction!
   
Then they dripped/poured vinegar into each one to see which explodes. 
      
We refilled the baking soda multiple times and watched it interact with the vinegar.  It was fun, and the cookie sheet contained the mess.
We went to People-to-People Ministries to get a tour and see how we could help from home.  They saw where the toys came down the conveyor belt, where the food was stored, and even played with silly string for the first time.  Our “hands and feet of Jesus” job is to watch DVDs that will eventually be handed out at their Christmas project; they want to make sure the movies don’t skip, pause, or jump around.  We now have at least 4 Barbie movies as well as a few others.  We also now know where we will be taking food donations and how they will be used.  It is pretty amazing work they do there.
We learned about Piet Mondrian, a famous artist, one day.  We tried painting some artwork similar to his.  He is an artist known for black lines in a grid like pattern who used mostly the three primary colors – red, blue, and yellow.  The girls did a great job.  Ellie painted in squares using painter’s tape, and then I colored in the black lines. 

Madison and I made black lines with a ruler together and then she freehand painted in each box. 

I also dabbled in the artwork. 

On Saturday, we had a busy, but fun-filled time with other people.  We went to Luke and Steph’s for brunch and SYF planning.  The kids had a ball playing in the basement for the 2-3 hours it took us to get through most of our stuff.  Then, in the evening, we went to my SYF leaders’ house for our annual SYF reunion.  We are now a pretty big bunch with all our kids.  Most of the night the kids play downstairs, and do little damage, and we talk upstairs.  It is (fairly) relaxing.  In the past we would play Trivial Pursuit and stay up til 1 or 2 in the morning.  Now, we head out of there by about 8.  We use the kids as an excuse, but I think our age accounts for some of it!

Until next time… have a great week.

Sleepovers and Super Bowl Parties

Sometimes I struggle to name the posts.  There isn’t too much to say about the two events in the title, but I figured it would work. 

On Friday, the girls and I carpooled with Steph, Sam, and Lilli to Nate and Jen’s house.  Sophie was having a birthday party Saturday evening, so we thought we would make a weekend of it and invade a day early.  Thankfully, my sister-in-law is great with having extra people at her house, and it worked out well.  We got there after supper – she didn’t need six more mouths for another meal!  The kids settled right in playing together, and we adults hung out in the kitchen.  We stayed in the kitchen because a) the best conversations happen in the kitchen and b) Sophie was working on decorating her birthday cake and we were there to cheer her on.  It was a good night.  All the kids were tucked in by 9pm, and most of them were asleep by then as well.

We woke up bright and early – as is normal around here – at 7am.  Megan had a soccer game at 8:20 we wanted to go watch.  It was fun to see five-year-olds running around playing soccer.  Megan even scored her first goal of the season right before the end of the game!  We rushed out of her soccer match to make it to Chloe’s basketball game.  She did a great job, too.  She is persistent and looks to have a great shot if she keeps at it.  We returned home for play time and lunch time.  Then, we headed out for Paxon’s basketball game at 1pm.  (It is hard to keep up in their house!)  Pax did a great job!  He has good dribbling skills and even did a spin move on the way to the hoop for one shot.  He may be following in his daddy’s footsteps!  Ellie napped; older boys and girls went out in the snow; younger girls played dolls/Barbies/Dora people; and adults talked the afternoon away.  The party started around 5pm – pizza, pasta salad, green salad, jello, veggie tray, chips, etc.  There is never a lack of food when we get together.  Sophie had a cool blue cake to share with us for dessert.  We ended the night with presents; it is so interesting to see what older girls want.  You move away from buying toys (yea!) to buying clothes and nail pens (tougher).  We’ll learn.

The night would have ended there, but on the way home we managed to hit a deer.  Yep, you read that right.  Jeremy saw three deer in the median of route 30.  One decided at the last minute it would try to cross the road; bad idea.  Jeremy let off the gas and press the break and held the car steady.  We hit the deer head on.  It went flying; we slowed to a stop.  Thankfully, the damage was not bad enough to strand us.  It doesn’t look that bad, but we have heard back from the collision center on an estimate yet either.  Everyone was fine – all 7 of us!  And ironically, the kids had just finished watching Bambie II.  Isn’t that an awesome addition to the story?  So, we are borrowing Jeremy’s parent’s van (thanks, Gloria and Maynard) until ours is fixed up.  God was definitely watching out for us.

We took the girls with us to the youth group Super Bowl party.  They seemed to have fun hanging out with the youth, and the youth don’t seem to mind havnging out with theme either.  I enjoyed most of the commercials in the first half, and then I quit really paying attention.  The game was pertty exciting as well.  I missed the very end, the poor play call, the intercepted pass, etc.  Oh well.  Life will go on.

Finally, this is February – the “I am going to start being intentional with my kids because I am so busy with school work otherwise” month.  Remember this post?  Well, the fun has started.  We missed doing the clocks on Monday.  I think I didn’t realize it was February until the end of the day.  I am going to try to get it in this week; I think it will be fun to do.  We worked on our maps of Kidron today.  It was neat to see how much they actually know about the location of things.  Ellie’s map is on the left and Madison’s is on the right.  You can see a close up of Kidron road locations from Madison’s map in the second picture – Quince (the donut shop), the fire station (911), the post office (flag), the park (slide), and MCC Connections (guitar because she saw one once there she wanted).  We put on people’s houses and other locations around town.  It is a good thing we live in a one intersection town.  This would have been impossible in Columbus!

    

Tonight they played with their little people and vehicles on them.  It took longer than I thought it would, which was fine.  The only thing I really didn’t want with this stuff was a lot of prep work.  And today there was really none.  Tomorrow, they are supposed to work on their names.  We’ll see if we have time – they are headed to Yoh’s while I sub.  It might be a good thing to do after supper.  We’ll see.

I posted the Bible verse for the week on their door yesterday, too.  You would be surprised at how quickly little minds memorize!  Both of them are able to say it back by today.  I told them if they say it all by themselves at the end of the week, they can put a sticker on a chart and get Smarties for being so smart!  They are pretty excited.  If you see them, be sure to ask them to say it.  (Ask and it will be given to you.  Matthew 7:7)

Hope you have a great week.  Until next time…

Cardboard Boxes = Boredom No More

I think this past week just came and went.  We are not really super busy anymore, as I mentioned last time, but that doesn’t mean that I have a better handle on time.  (As you can see, today is Wednesday, and I was “supposed” to blog on Monday…)

Last week, we busted out cardboard boxes again.  We have a ton of them from moving here two years ago that we flattened because at some point, we will move again.  Construction began one evening while I was making supper.  This time the girls not only made houses to crawl in, but used construction paper and pictures and markers to decorate them.  If you ever do cardboard houses, be sure to get out the construction paper; it makes the project last at least a day longer!  They worked and worked on their homes.  Then, day three, Madison decided she wanted me to make a car out of a box.  I suppose there are pins on pinterest on exactly how to do this, but I consider myself relatively smart and decided I could figure this out on my own.  And I did.  It is not as fancy as this  or this or even these.  But Madison doesn’t know those exist, and she is happy with her version.  Then, of course, Ellie needed one as well.  After 3-4 days of cutting and creating with cardboard, I will admit I became a little tired of it.  They, however, did not.  So, if you are looking for an activity, get a cardboard box, some paper, pictures, glue, and scissors, and let the imagination go!

In other news, swim lessons are going really well.  They split the class, so Ellie is in a class with her and one little boy.  Madison and her two classmates are now able to swim to the deep end and jump off the blocks (the ones they use for swim meets).  It is pretty neat to watch them both take off a little bit more each time.

On the way out the door on Monday, Ellie had her hands in her pockets, tripped over the door jamb, and fell face forward onto the porch.  Yep, I just watched her go – timber!  It was not pretty – blood gushing, crying hysterically, Madison got scared, etc.  As tears subsided and blood ceased flowing, most of the damage was to the gum line.  Her teeth were still intact (except a chip out of one), but there was bruising to the gums.  I ended up taking her to the dentist yesterday; he said it all looked fine.  I breathed a sigh of relief.  I also picked up a pamphlet on dental emergencies in kids for later…

Ellie is going to story time at the library now for the next couple weeks.  Because she is three, she now goes into the room all by herself!  I go in to help with crafts and then leave.  She is growing up, and she loves it!

Jeremy’s parents have been out-of-state for the past two weeks or so.  Which I say, good for them.  I hope I leave the state for weeks at a time when I am retired, too!  The downside, I don’t have my relief aid!  It is such a blessing that they take the girls once a week (or when they can).  It gives me time to breathe, relax, shop, do school work (yuck, but important), and have some “me” time.  Needless to say, the cardboard boxes were a welcome relief and semi replacement of that time.  Well, they are back.  We met them for lunch today because the girls were so excited to see them again.  Then, they surprised me and offered to take the girls home with them for the afternoon.  I did not turn it down!  So, here I sit – homework completed, blog caught up, heading downstairs to watch a movie and fold laundry.  Maybe I will knock out my grocery list and a few other things as well.  Thanks, Grandma and Papa, for the surprise!  (Hope you had fun!)

Until next time, enjoy the week; enjoy the snow; enjoy the Super Bowl; enjoy your family.

Another week…

After trying to keep up with our lives for about the past month (or two?), I feel like one, mostly normal, week leaves little for the blog… or does it?  I think this blog will be the rambling I never did in the last posts because I was so busy documenting events; so, be prepared!

I am finally on the mend from a cold that started about two weeks ago.  I am pretty sure that all the rest of my family is now starting up that same cold.  I guess I will at least be well enough to help them through it.  That also requires a spirit of compassion… a tough one for me sometimes, I have to admit.  I am trying to not get frustrated by the complete waste of Kleenex – you know, the one wipe and done of a three year old…. the one where you could actually reuse the Kleenex because you can’t even tell where it was previously used?  Yep, I have had multiple trash cans filled with these already.  I try not to begrudge my husband sleeping in – because in fairness, he stepped up and let ME sleep in for about 3 days when the fatigue was just too much.  I try to remember that the extra whining that may be incurring is probably due to lack of sleep because they can’t breathe and because they can’t suck their thumbs well (Oh how I wish this cold would cure the thumb-sucking.  They are too persistent and continue to suck away.)  Compassion. 

The girls started swim lessons.  This week will mark their third of six lessons.  They happen to be in the same class with two (well, three… there was a new joiner last week) other kids.  There are at least three levels of swimmers and one teacher.  The first lesson, they put Ellie in the water and told her to hang on to the edge.  Sounds okay, right?  IF she had a swim belt of floatation device on or IF someone had a hand on her.  Neither of these were true, and I almost had a heart attack.  I politely asked for a swim belt explaining that she had only just bumped up from Mommy and Me classes and may need a little bit extra help.  She made it through the lesson without drowning.  Madison took to the water well.  She was hoping to get to jump into the pool, but that didn’t happen the first lesson; we’ll see when it does.  I am hoping that they split the kids or add another teacher with the addition of a fifth kid.  I think if you are paying money, you should make sure your kid learns something.  With so many different levels going on, the teacher is just not able to provide what each one needs.  (Sound familiar to any classroom teachers?  Differentiation is so easy, right?)

I have been a busy beaver trying to prepare to be super mom.  Actually, I am just trying to make sure I don’t neglect my children for the next 12 weeks.  I start a graduate class (Creating Effective Learning Environments) today, and I am pretty much drained of all creative thought during those times.  It is just hard to keep up with the readings and homework, and maintain my skills as a wife and mother and housekeeper.  So, I am trying to be proactive.  How? you ask.  Well, we had so much fun doing our Advent calendar, I thought I would do something similar.  So, I picked out some 10-30 minute activities that we could do daily.  Because one of my goals as a stay-at-home mom that had yet to come to fruition was doing educational things with my kids, I made categories for each of the days of the week.  My categories are math, social studies, language arts, science, faith, and the arts.  Then, I broke each of those down into four categories, assuming each month has four weeks, more or less.  Then, I planned enough activities for the next five months.  (It was not as difficult as it seems.) 

How did I have time to do this?  Friday morning my girls played for 4 hours!!!! all by themselves.  They pretended to be a mommy or a kid (and changed rolls).  They packed suitcases full of clothes.  They turned the lights on for daytime and off for the night.  They wore appropriate clothes for going to work (fancy coat, my purse, nice shoes) and for school (shorts and tank and a backpack).  They organized show-and-share and told me what they were bringing.  They took care of babies, read stories, and played without fighting for FOUR hours!  It. was. amazing. 

And so, while they did all that, I sat in the same room and worked on my master plan.  I revealed said plan to Jeremy.  He said, “You are super mom.”  I said, “I will be (kinda) if I manage to actually do these things.”  I am realizing I am good at ideas, but my follow through is not usually so good.  (on a side note:  It helps me understand why behavior plans at school with kids are not my strength – I neglect them and then they do not work.)  So, this is the first month of activities (if you are curious), and I hope to make it work starting in February.  On Sundays, I want to work on a short Scripture verse for the week with the kids.  They can be found here.

Math	Social Studies	Lang Arts	Science	Faith	The Arts
Clock… Identify #1-12 on clock Count by 5s	Kidron Make a map and follow it	Your Name… Write it. Put letters in order. Find it.	Which will erupt? Link	Volunteer at MCC Connections	Pier Mondrian Read and Paint the Perfect Squares or create your own.
Identify and Make regular shapes Use puzzles and cut-outs	Make food from North America	Book and Craft Ideas from www.notimeforflashcards.com	Our Body Parts of (bones, skin) Sing Head, Shoulders..	Visit or Make a Card for Someone	Use popsicle stick puppets to make a play
Counting… 1-20 And by 5s  (M)	Identify Coins	Write a letter to Ashel (our Compassion kid)	Seasons and Weather Talk about, draw, color	Shop and Take donations to a Food Bank	What is music? Notes, instruments, sounds, etc
Primary Colors What are they? Make patterns.	Holidays Talk about what is being celebrated this month. Read a book. or Make something. or Cook something. or Go somewhere.	Book and Outing Ideas from www.notimeforflashcards.com	Solid, Liquid, Gas Dancing Raisins Capture Gas Categorize things you see	Visit or Make a Card for someone	What types of dance are there? Jazz, tap, ballet, modern, hip hop

Ambitious?  Yes and no.  No, because it gives me a reason to be deliberately engaged with my kids.  And the tasks are not too time consuming (except some of the volunteer ones or the outings).  And they don’t use a lot of extra materials, so it is not expensive.  And there is not much planning involved from this point on (except to have the materials needed or reserve a book).  But yes, it is ambitious because it is requiring that I am deliberately engaged with my kids.  And they have expectations,  And I have expectations.  And it does require a little pre-planning.  And I am starting class (as well as some other life things going on).  So, we’ll see. 

I have a lot more to write that has been rolling around in my head recently.  I have been reading the book Desperate: Hope for the Mom that needs to Breathe by Sarah Mae from our church library.  While these kinds of books are good for moms, they are also potentially bad for moms.  The authors actually allude to that.  So, anyway.  It is a good book, but it is making me think a little about stuff.  I may try to make time to get it down on the blog.  We’ll see – I have some assignments to do and I have to sub this week. 

Hope you all have a great week.  Thanks for reading, if you made it this far.  Have a great week. (Ellie wanted to add a symbol; she picked this one.)