Last Day o' March

Preschool Letter O today.  We read a cute little owl story then made these cut and paste owls.

"Cut and paste"...why do we say that? Does anybody still use paste anymore? 

That was fun stuff...that little stick of gooey gluey. I never understood why it was better than the squeeze bottle. I bet paste has been replaced by glue sticks hasn't it? Paste was probably the precursor to the gluestick.

"Next on Modern Marvels.."

Mercy. Rambly much?

Gave two haircuts today. Getting everybody all spiffied up for Easter. Plus they just needed them. Going to be working on getting those boys on a rotation so I can do one haircut a week, every week, instead of 3 or 4 back-to-back.

It looks like a two-by-four. It's really a paint stick. :)
 #perspective

We got lots of outside time again today. The whole day seemed slower paced. I'm not sure why, and I'm sure I didn't get as much done as my to-do list says I should, but the day was indeed slower paced and peaceful, and for that I am thankful.  

I dropped Dale off at karate for my first time this evening - it's always been Daddy before. While he was karateing I bought groceries - at warp speed! - and went back to pick him up. There was time to spare when I got there so I was able to go inside and watch him do his thing for a few minutes. Just between you and me? I wish we had him in the same aggressive taekwondo program he was in 3 years ago. He's good at it! I hate that he's having to start all over again.

When we got home Daddy had the littles bathed. We shooed them back in the house, as they came out to greet us in various stages of dress and undress. 

Once in pjs we gathered around for our Easter week devotion. It occurred to me rather suddenly on the way home from karate that I hadn't prepared, so I had Dale check pinterest on my phone and felt a little better. 

Even so, we ended up not doing any special craft or activity, and I really didn't even have an application or "point" to the evening's reading, which was all disappointing. Ah well...onward, yes? Tomorrow is a new day, and hopefully I'll prepare a little better!

Had lots of fun with this happy little boy today. What is this face?! Lol.

Speaking of preparing....tomorrow is a silly little day called April Fool's....and I know my little fools will be expecting some Tom foolery and shenanigans. Pinterest, here I come.  Nothing like the last minute, is there? ;)

Monday, Monday

After a week of sick kids, I gave in to the exhaustion and gave up on getting up to an alarm for a week. Then we spent a weekend traveling. 

So today was the day that I was gonna get back to it. 

But...I didn't. And I don't regret it one bit. Early rising is highly overrated. ;)

This is the little face I woke up to this morning. 

 Actually, that's not true. I woke up to Greg's face, and then he brought me this one from his crib. But this one is cuter.

Up early or not, today was definitely a little out of routine, as it was a catch-up day from the weekend, and Dale had a dentist appointment early on.

Even amongst the unpacking and laundry, we managed to set aside some time for a preschool lesson. We are up to letter 'N' now, and it being spring and all, I decided "Nests" would be a good thing to cover.
First we looked at a few bird books, looking at pictures of some common birds and their nests.
We also read the poem What Robin Told, by George Cooper. It was perfect!

How do robins build their nests?

Robin Redbreast told me

First a wisp of yellow hay

In a pretty round they lay;

Then some shreds of downy floss,

Feather, too, and bits of moss,

Woven with a sweet, sweet song,

This way, that way, and across;

That's what Robin told me.

Where do robins hide their nests?

Robin Redbreast told me

Up among the leaves so deep,

Where the sunbeams rarely creep,

Long before the winds are cold,

Long before the leaves are gold,

Bright-eyed stars will peep and see

Baby robins--one, two, three;

That's what Robin told me.

Then, we had a fun color-mixing lesson. Green + Red = Brown!

We used our brown to paint paper plate halves.

 While our paper plates dried we went for a walk collecting things for our nests....

...then came back and glued them on. I love how they turned out!

This afternoon I went to check on Dale and see how he was recovering from his dental visit. I was surprised to see Brooklyn all snuggled up with him. It seemed out of character for both of them, and oh-so-sweet!

 This evening was our second night of the last week of Jesus Easter devotions. We read about Jesus cursing the fig tree, and then clearing the temple of the money-changers and animal sales.

I printed a picture from the internet and then cut it into five parts. Each kid colored a different part while I read, and then they put them together like a puzzle. Turned out great! I gave them each a penny to glue on, too. No real significance there, it was just fun.

Now...off to bed for me. Overrated or not, I have an alarm to (attempt to) wake up to tomorrow!

Palm Sunday Weekend

Busy traveling weekend! 

Mama and Levi got to spend Friday night at Mimi and Gramps's house! 

The rest of the gang stayed behind for the fire station field trip....

 (if I wasn't so tired lazy in a hurry to be done with this post there would be a cutie patootie picture here of the kids on a fire truck. But Greg took that pic with his phone and getting it from there to here is more than I care to tackle at this hour. Just imagine the cuteness!) 

....then came on to Mimi and Gramps' for a Saturday night stay.

We woke up at Mimi and Gramps' house Sunday morning, hurrying and scurrying (after a leisurely breakfast, of course!) and got us and all our stuff out the door in time to be on time to Nana and PawPaw's church where Daddy was preaching.

Daniel didn't know much about the preaching, but he thoroughly enjoyed the toy basket in the nursery:

After a yummy lunch and wonderful singing service, we headed straight back home in time for potty stops and to load back up and go to our own church for evening service, where we observed the Lord's Supper. At the beginning of the service a group of 4-6 year olds went down to the front for a special children's lesson on the Lord's Supper. Tyler, of course, was part of this crew. The lesson was very interactive, and everyone enjoyed hearing the candid comments from the children relayed for the rest of us. Tyler even piped up a time or two, including making sure the pastor knew that our grape jelly looked just like the bottle of grape juice the pastor was holding up. :)

After the kiddos were all pajamaed up at home, we gathered around for a bedtime devotion. A few years ago we did a countdown to Easter by following the last week of Jesus with a Bible reading and nightly activity. We all loved that and decided to do it again this year. 

So, it being Palm Sunday, we read all about Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem.  We started with an Easter egg full of leaves. 

The olders were well aware that it was Palm Sunday and quickly guessed at the significance of the leaves. 

After we read the passage, everyone from Daniel to Daddy got a leaf to cut into palm fronds, and we hung them all together on our bulletin board. 

After some good discussion on how we can welcome Jesus into our own lives daily as Lord and King, just like the Jews welcomed him that day, we said our prayers and went to bed!

Snippets

Regular ol' school day around here. Everyone seems to be back in regular health except poor Miss B. 

This morning I sent Alan to the other end of the house so he'd have somewhere quiet to read his school chapter. (He's reading Heidi.)  

I said.... "Go lay on my bed" (Which was made, by the way).

This is how I found him:

 Fully clothed. In my bed. Not on my bed.

And two siblings climbing all over him. I shooed them out.

We finished the letter "L" today in our preschool lessons. 
 See my Little Lions? 

This afternoon I came upon Daniel and the cars he had lined up just so. 

He was very proud of his handy work. "It's beautiful!" he said.

The Day We Called "Spring Break"

We kind of had to make our own spring break this year. 

The week we had off from school was cold and gray and rainy, and by the end of it, we were beginning to succomb one by one to some illness which may or may not have been the flu.

Then the following week there were still sick feverish people (we really know how to drag it out), and still lots of clouds and gray.

SO....when this Monday was predicted to be warm and sunny we said, "THIS IS IT!! SPRING BREAK!"

And we made a run for the nearest park and soaked up every ray of sun we possibly could.

And ate bologna.

Look at that blue sky! (And that serious drummer face.)

Fishing.

More fishing. Daddy caught the only fish of the day. But we'll be trying again soon!

And that's what I did on my summer vacation spring break!

Truth and Lies

Have you ever been lied about? Had your integrity attacked? 

These were the questions that opened our Sunday School lesson this week. I think we've all been there at one time or another. Whether it is a misunderstanding or an intentional attack, it can be discouraging and stressful to be wrongly accused.

The lesson was from Galatians chapter 2. We discussed the fact that Paul's credibility had been questioned. In verse 5 we learned by his example that when we are facing these accusations, we should not be deterred from our goal. We also learned, based on verses 1 and 9, that it is good to surround ourselves with strong believers we can trust for prayer and guidance.

Good encouragement for when we face those times of trials when someone is attacking our character, whether it is a family member or a stranger, or anyone in between.

But there is more. Here's my take on it:

Those times, hopefully, are rare. However, we are all attacked daily in this manner.  The book of Revelation (12:7) tells us Satan is our accuser. We can see an example of this in Job 1. He wants each one of us to fail, and to be distracted from the plans God has laid in front of us, so what does he do?  He lies. Not only does he lie about us, but he lies directly to us.  Jesus said Satan is a liar, and the father of lies. (John 8:44), so we know he must be good at it. 

We have all heard that voice in our head, and it sounds deceptively like our own:
You will never be good enough...
You blew it...again...
Do you really think you can make any difference?
They will all find out what you did...
What if they knew who you really are...?

The accusations fly at us, drag us down, discourage us, and most importantly...distract us from what we should really be doing.  And that is just his point. When we become discouraged and fearful we step away from a purpose that only we can fill. 

So what do we do?
Just like we learned from Paul, we must not be deterred from our God-given purpose. Also as seen in Galatians, we need godly people that we can trust. People who will encourage us and point us to the truth.  Jesus called himself truth and life (John 14:6). It is only in him that we can answer those accusations in our heads and hearts.

You will never be good enough. - No, I won't! But I am covered by the righteousness of Jesus, and he is more than good enough! (2 Corinthians 5:21)

What if they knew who you really are? - Who am I really? I am the imperfect, flawed, loved, child of the one true God! (Galatians 3:26) That's who I really am, and if you aren't, you can be too. Anyone who tells you otherwise, is a liar.

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John 8:32