helping at school...

Being able to help out at school is pretty important to me...

This year I am Carsten's room mom.  I get to help out in his class one Friday a month with lunch and recess.  This month it rained so we had indoor recess and the kids played games in the room.  Mrs. Lynne watched Henry these Fridays which we are both thankful for (Henry LOVES his Mrs. Lynne days!). 

Two other times a month I read to Grace and Willem's classes during lunch, and Henry comes with me those days - he thinks he is big stuff.  I love getting to connect with each of the kids in their classrooms once a month like this - it is good to see them in that environment and playing with their classmates!

Parents are also encouraged to attend their chapel once a month.  This particular chapel was on being Community Builders, and after they had sung some songs and listened to a little talk, the whole school divided into mixed age groups and brought a mum to a neighbor of the school.  They included a note signed by all of them talking about their school, thanking them for being in the same neighborhood community, and inviting them to some fun school events.

I also try to get on a few field trips with the kids too.  This was a walking field trip that I got to go on with Willem's class to nearby Laddie Lake.  They are studying layers of the forest so they observed and drew in their journals, as well as collecting some lake water for their next science study.  3rd graders are fun...

And it was a fun bonus that Grace's class walked with us at the same time!  Their class has been studying parts of plants and also did observing and journaling.  They also practiced being creation keepers by picking up a lot of trash on the path to and around the lake.

So thankful and blessed that I can help out in these ways!  Love these kids and love their school...

So......

...there once was a blog that belonged to a girl.  She originally started it partly because her sister-in-law had one and she thought it was neat, but mainly to post pictures and stories of the kids and life for her Grandma (and parents and other relatives) to see.  The girl and hubby had only two kids at this point.  

...the number of kids grew to three and the girl fought hard to keep the blog going because she found out that she really liked posting pictures and writing - it was almost therapeutic (hello, using brain and forming coherent sentences higher than at 3 yr olds level was good for her!) and the only hobby that she could find time here and there to still enjoy.  

...aaaaaand then child number 4 came along.  Many people told the girl and hubby that if they survived life with three kids, adding a 4th was nothing.  Those people were nice, but THEY WERE WRONG!  It was so much busier, and unfortunately the blog ended up suffering.  The girl gave up most times, and fought hard to get it back sometimes, but it was sporadic if anything.  

....and thennnnnnnn, the girl took a part time dream job teaching a class at their kids' Christian school.  The girl was nervous because she hadn't taught since college because of many various life things (she kept asking principal - "are you sure you want me?!"), but once in front of the class with a subject she enjoyed, she knew that teaching was still for her.  Unfortunately all the stress and major amounts of work that go along with your first year of teaching made life crazy and all effort was put into trying to maintain balance at home while still doing her best at teaching, and the blog was thrown far out the window.  (sometimes, sleep, showering and eating were thrown out the window too!)  

...but the girl couldn't erase that blog.  That blog with so many photos and memories written down.  It was really a part of her.  And so when the girl found herself stressing about life even after the first year of teaching was done, she remembered how much she liked that blog.  Unfortunately hardware issues prevented her from starting it back up right away, but now with a new camera and computer, there is nothing stopping her.  

...apart from a growing concern for her sweet kiddos as they get older and start using the computer more, and that nothing is secret on the internet - how would her and hubby protect them?  Should they throw the new computer out the window, cancel the internet, and wrap the house in plastic and never let them go?  Nope.  That is not how we were called to live in this world.  BUT.  Girl and hubby still want to protect them a little.  And actually protect them a lot on the internet.  

so....since this blog is for girl and hubby and kiddos, and for family and friends, and not for a million followers out there or for money, we are turning the blog's setting to private.  That means that you can't read about the crazy things Henry says, or see how long Grace's hair is getting, or find out about Willem and Carsten's latest sports craze unless we send you an invite.  

I know.  That is a hassle.  It is not easy, and if you don't care, please ignore that invite and don't bother.  But for some that do want to geek out with Cary about how great her pictures of the lunar eclipse turned out (she was more surprised than anyone!) and find out how Steve is saving lives next weekend, here we are.  A girl and her blog.

***UPDATE, yeah that private setting thing was a great idea, but did not work well in actuality.  Blogger's set up for it is not without issues, and it worked for some and not for others with no rhyme or reason.  So I took some different measures behind the scenes to still offer security and turned the blog back on private.  I set it so it can't be searched for in Blogger or on search engines like Google.  That makes us feel quite a bit better.***

CCS Challenge 2015!

October is time for the annual CCS Challenge again! We love our school and we worked on raising money to help them out with all the extra expenses and classroom needs of trying to give the students a great education.  We knew we would not be able to be there on the morning of the Challenge, so the week before our family biked 5 miles together for our participation!  It was fun as the big kids are all closer in biking ability now so the ride was smooth and fun for all.  And a bonus was meeting Uncle Jeff, Auntie Christy, Kaatje & Greta at a park halfway through our ride (we needed someone to take our annual bike picture!).  Thanks so much to all of our friends and family who donated!  It makes a difference.  Go Calvin!

(this annual picture is fun to look back on.  Check out 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010!)