Monday, August 29, 2011

A New Sport

I'm no longer a soccer mom - I'm a baseball mom. Baseball seems to be the sport of Miami so we have said good-bye to our soccer days and are now embracing the sport of baseball. Mj had his first baseball practice last week and did so well for his first time playing baseball.   His team is the Red Sox so for the first time we'll be cheering for the (gulp) Red Sox.  Don't worry our loyalties are still with the Phillies but for Mj's baseball season we'll be cheering for his Red Sox team! ;)  Another awesome thing is that Mark gets to help and go to practice with Mj!  Mj's loving having his dad at practice!

Mj practicing his batting.

The fans!


Friday, August 26, 2011

Tot School - Fun with the letter "L"

Jadyn is 38 months old & Gabe is 18 months old
Tot School
For totschool this week we focused on the letter "L", number 1, sight word "see", color yellow, the shape circle, and focused on nature. It was so good to get back to a schedule. I'm starting Jadyn on some preschool materials, but not pushing her to do it or master the skill so we'll continue totschool and supplement some preschool activities. Jadyn was so excited to do school like big brother MJ!  Here's what we did this week.

 Our board: Our verse, how to apply the verse, song, weather, stick puppets for the song, number, letter and sight word.
Singing "This Little Light of Mine. Well..... Gabe ate his puppet while Jadyn and I sang!
Tracing "L". She really improved her tracing by the end of the week.
Sorting shapes.
Dot-a-dot markers - her new favorite activity!
Matching her ladybug letters.
Coloring 1.
Every morning I would have her find 1 of something.  This day she found 1 train.
Same thing with the letter "L".  She found a lamb.
L is for Lion.
L is for lollipop.
Coloring her verse. Matthew 5:16 "Let you light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
Practicing her cutting skills.
Sorting Big "L" ladybugs and Little "L" ladybugs.
Counting with learning links!
Jadyn loved making this ladybug.
God made so many beautiful things.
Ladybug Lacing.
Sorting ladybugs by size.
We're making a color and shapes book.  This is the page for yellow.
Jadyn loves to use lots of colors when coloring!
Matching ladybugs.
Jadyn cut and taped her verse to see how long it was - "It's bigger than me!"
Jadyn made a book about her.  I love her drawing of her face!
Ladybug sequencing
Counting and jumping!
Ladybug puzzle.

Gabe enjoyed totschool, too!  He worked on shape sorting! He could play with this toy for hours!
Wow! what a mess this boy can make!=)  Enjoying some learning with his brightlings.
Reading his Thomas camera book.

Always fun with Mr. Potsy!

We ended our "L" week with a trip to the zoo (yes, we've been here 5 times since we've moved here 2 months ago!  We love it!!!)  We looked for "L" animals!

L is for Lemur.
L is for leaf! (not an animal but an "L" word! =) )
L is for lion!
L is for lizard.
Another lizard!
And another lizard that we petted! They are everywhere here in Miami!
Much thanks to Totally Tots for the letter crafts, Confessions of a Homeschooler for the adorable Ladybug printables, and 1+1+1=1 for the amazing Raising Rock Stars Preschool ideas and printables.  These women are awesome for having their printables be free and I appreciate all the work they put into their work!!!!!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Hiding God's Word in Their Hearts

Last night the kids started Awana. Our church in Pa. didn't have Awana so this is a new experience for all of us. The kids were so excited to wear their T-shirts and take their books. Mj worked so hard on his verses and was able to pass 2 more stations. Jadyn made a puppet and was just all excited about being a cubby and going to her class!

Off to Awana.
Mj - T&T (Truth & Training)
Jadyn - Cubbies

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

My Role as Mom

I normally don't ramble on here, but I just need to get some thoughts out and figured I could do it here for my blog friends.  So many of you have shared your heart and I've always found that encouraging to me.
I've found myself questioning my role as mom. What does it mean? One of the things that is different down here in Miami is that most moms work. I find myself defending my "stay-at-home" mom status. I was starting to feel guilty about questioning why am I staying at home. Maybe I should be working at the school, but then I look at the faces of my 2 littles still at home and my big 3rd grader.  It's been a huge adjustment having Mj going to school.  I was feeling guilty the whole first week. Were we doing the right thing? And I know that we are.  He's had some struggles.  They write everything in cursive.  And it's a different cursive than he's learned. But he's learning through these struggles.  He's learning through this and I'm so proud of him.  He's met the harsh reality that kids aren't always kind.  I've been writing him a note and leaving it in his lunch every day.  Well,he showed a kid who wasn't in his class and the kid made fun of him.  Can I just say how much it broke my heart to see Mj hurting?  He said "Mom, I still want notes from you, but I was sad that he made fun of me."  Oh, this is a learning experience for all of us.  Mj is doing so well in school and he's got a great teacher.  I know this year is going to teach him so much and not just "book knowledge."  Mj has always had such a tender heart.  When we were at the beach one day he said, "Mom, why do some ladies not dress nicely?" I never told him that bikinis were bad he just knew that women shouldn't show that much skin.  We talked about modesty and how we should want others to see Jesus in the way we dress not ourselves.  He was so worried about the people not knowing Jesus and wanting to show Jesus in their lives.  I love that boy so much and I pray that he keeps that tender heart!

Then there's Jadyn & Gabe.  I have loved having some alone time with each of them and not having the "pressure" of schooling Mj.  We've had so much fun together learning and reading together.  Jadyn is definitely strong-willed and I know that God has huge plans for her life and God has given me the opportunity to start forming this little life for him.  She has just started wanting to pray "without help."  I LOVE listening to her talk to God.  She'll pray for God and Jesus to be happy.  She prays for her daddy at work, for Gabe and Mj to obey. She remembers her friend Zoe who will have heart surgery soon. How precious to hear her little prayers to God.  She also loves to sing.  Yesterday she was sitting at my piano playing notes and making up her own song about Jesus dying on the cross cause He loves her.  Her favorite songs to sing are "Jesus Loves Me", "the ABC's", "My God is so Great" and "He's Able".  I love when she sings "He's Able" cause she'll say, "He's able, He's able, My God is my elbow!" It makes me laugh every time I hear it!!!  I'm sure God is enjoying her joyful noise, too! =)

Gabe is such a precious little boy. Always happy! Starting to learn that he has his own will... but at least he stops with a simple "no". (most of the time.).  He loves to sit on my lap and read books with me. He loves to play outside (even in this Miami heat). He keeps me on my toes, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

So am I sad to be a "stay-at-home" mom?  Am I missing out on something better?  My days are sometimes long, sometimes frustrating, but so worth it!!!  I only get my children for such a short time why would I do something else?!
Thank you God for these 3 precious miracles You've trusted in my care!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Getting Back to a Schedule

This week is working on getting our family back to a "normal" schedule.  Jadyn was so excited to get back to school.  She was begging for more work!  I'll have a post this week for TotSchool with more details of our school week but I thought I'd share some pictures of our first day back to school.



Saturday, August 20, 2011

Back to School Bash

Last night was the back to school bash with the youth group - Lots of games, laughing, and eating!
Here are some pictures from the night.

Mj read his Star Wars book from the moment he got home from school until we started eating at the back to school bash.
Eating pizza!
Tag-a-lot
Gabe enjoyed the tether ball during tag-a-lot.
Mj playing Tag-a-lot.
Jadyn had a good seat to watch Tag-a-lot.
Gabe loved watching the teens running around.
Get the oreo into your mouth using your face. So funny to watch!
Unrolling the toilet paper.
Some hair styling.
Making toilet paper mummies.

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