picture perfect mother's day weekend...

{I know, I know...Happy Father's Day to all!  I'm just a little behind on posting.  Hope you all have a wonderful day celebrating the great dads in your life!}

penguins!

G is all done with school now (yay! summer vacation!), but I thought I would share about one of the big projects that the first graders did at the end of the year - animal reports.  They each picked an animal, read books and did research on that animal, and then had to present certain information about that animal to the class.  It was nice that the project form was left up to them though - they could do anything as long as the few required pieces of information were included.  G picked a penguin and we had a great time learning all about penguins with her.  Here is how she completed her project:

 Step 1:  Read, read, read, read, read!  She found 9 books on penguins at the library!  And the librarian showed her and all the first graders how to take notes, or basically write down interesting information that they learned without copying. 

 Step 2:  Visit the zoo!  We took the whole family to the MN zoo to see the African Penguin exhibit.  We made sure that we were there for the penguin feeding and enjoyed hearing the zookeepers talk about the penguins.  G took notes, observed, and took pictures of the penguins.

Step 3:  Decide what type of report to do.  G really really really wanted to type on the computer, and also show all her photos from the zoo, so she decided to make a poster.  Then she could type her penguin information on the computer, and also paste all her photos on the posterboard as well.  (insert momma note here - I had to summon ALL of my patience to sit with her while she did this as it took about 3 hours to type her notes.)

 
Step 4:   Add that G touch to her poster.  This would not be a report from my daughter without a crafty touch added to it.  One of the penguin facts that G read in her books that fascinated her the most was that emperor penguins can grow to be as tall as a 6-yr-old child.  G immediately comes running to us and exclaims "I'M a 6-yr-old child!  That means that emperor penguins are as tall as ME!"  She asked if she could draw a penguin as tall as her to show her classmates, so I got the paper for her and marked how tall she was on it.  G looked at the photos of emperor penguins in her books and drew one just like that.  I helped a little bit with getting the white belly on, but the rest of it was all her.  She cut it out and we pasted it on one side of her poster. (insert another momma note - I know we are biased parents, but S and I are continually impressed with G's drawing ability and are baffled where she gets it.  G never is inhibited in her drawing, and is quite good at it too.)

Step 5:  Bring animal report to school and present it to her classmates.  This was the fun part for G.  She also got to show it off for Grandparents' Day, as well as a special Parent afternoon.  She was so proud of it and we were proud of her - what a great job!  And all the first-graders did so well and had some neat and different projects with their animals.  Mrs. H commented that every year she learns something new and wonderful about the animals that God has created. 

Children of God...

The Kindergarten through 5th grade students at G's school put on a concert yesterday.  Mrs. L came along with the boys and I to hear the fun program with songs all about trains.  G loves to sing and puts 100% of herself into every song that she sings, and as parents, S & I find such joy in watching this.  But the final song that they sang yesterday with the whole group, Children of God, seriously brought me to tears.  What a wonderful thing to see this group praising God with their voices!!

Click here to watch a video that Mr. Shields, the principal, took of that song

lesson on value...

I love a good deal.  But I also love good quality and understand that it does not always come cheap.  So after being frustrated with my clothing choices for skirts and dresses in my closet, I threw my good Dutch sense to the wind and went into one of those expensive clothing stores that basically dress you.  This one was geared towards mommas and it had a fabulous kids area with snacks in the middle of the store close to the dressing-room area so that they could stick me in a room and bring me a plethora of outfits to try on while my boys were happily occupied.  Fourty minutes later I left the store with 2 skirts, a dress, leggings, and 3 happy boys (H slept through the whole thing and W&C loved the play area and snacks) and was so happy with my experience there!  (normally clothing stores = kids going mad bonkers)  Well, when I got home and tried on the clothes for S, the clothes didn't look as good as they had in the store (seriously do they do something to the lights or mirrors?).  They did all fit me well, but the colors weren't right and the dress and leggings was seriously stretching age appropriateness (hard to believe I am not 20ish anymore!).  So I grumbled and decided to return all my purchases. And on the same day I returned them, I happened to head for a couple of favorite stores of mine that have sales and good clearance racks since the kids and S needed a few things, as well as a few other errands I had to run, and when I got home I compared the value of what I had returned and purchased.

(2 skirts that fit but wasn't happy with the colors and 1 dress and pair of leggings that stretched age-appropriateness for this 30-something gal)

=

4 polos for S, 2 skirts (much happier with the colors and they fit well!) and 2 tank tops for me, a dress and a skort and pair of pants and leggings for G, a sweatshirt and a t-shirt and shorts for W, 2 t-shirts and a pair of shorts for C, a Zagg screen shield installed on our new iPad, PLUS lunch at Panera for the boys and I...and I still had $35 left over.

So while I have no issues with good quality expensive clothing, I was happy that I was able to return it and get many needed and useful things for my family this time!

and maybe instead of the fancy salespeople 

I just need a good shopping buddy...any takers? =)

is this recycling, momma?

We finally had some shorts weather today...and the kids were SO excited to pull out their "new" shorts.  Aahma B came for a few days last week and along with helping out with baby-sitting the boys while I had a horrible time at the dentist getting a crown put in, she also took all the kids' jeans that had holes worn in them and turned them into adorable shorts for the summer by trimming them in cotton fabric.  They turned out ADORABLE, the kids loved them (and loved picking out the fabric for their own shorts), I was so happy to re-purpose these pants that still had lots of wear except for the knees, and I don't have to buy three pairs of shorts for G, two each for W & C, and one for H.  Ok, H didn't wear holes in his jeans over the winter, in fact he won't fit into any jeans he might have worn even last month, but we couldn't resist turning a pair got on clearance into cutey-shorts so he could have a pair too. =)  So thank you SO much Mom B - kids call them their "aahma" shorts, so you are thought of lovingly every time they wear them.

G asked me, "Is this recycling, Momma?"  I smiled and said it was more like re-using.  She responded, "Whatever it is, I like it." 

oh H...

• almost 6 months
• loves to be held
• rolling over and over
• reaching for toys and faces and hair
• pulling everything into his mouth
• spitty, drooly, and smiley =)
• graduated to 6-9 month clothes (ack!!!)
• his whole head smiles when he grins
• likes it when people look at him and talk to him
• loves loves his siblings
• has found his voice and we hear all sorts of growls and squeals and squeaks and "talking" now
• watches us very intently with everything we do
• still has the best concerned look
• takes at least one big long nap a day plus a couple other cat naps
• sleeps good at night - waking up 1-2 times to eat, but always going right back down easily
• rides in the car pretty well, although doesn't automatically fall asleep anymore like he used to
• loves chewing on my kitchen utensils (silicone spatulas and spoons the best)
• is for the most part a happy content wonderful baby
• is loved so incredibly much by all of us
• brings so much joy to our day to day lives
• is making his momma's heart ache a little with how fast he is growing up...

typical...

A couple weeks ago I bought a big ham and put it in the freezer and we planned to invite someone over for Easter dinner since we weren't traveling to family this year.  But a big cold bug hit me and the kids a few days before Easter, so we decided to not subject others to those germs and not have to worry about cleaning house and have a quiet day at home with just us.  We still needed to eat though!  I didn't want to make a 10 pound ham for just our family, so I decided to make a ham and cheese egg bake instead.  I was actually pretty proud of myself for thinking of this because it still seemed "Easter-y", I could make it the day before, it used up a stale loaf of sour dough bread that we had not eaten during the week, and we could use our oven timer and have it hot and ready by the time we got home from church.  Awesome.

So Sunday morning rolls around and we somehow are able to extract some clean purple outfits out of everyone's closets (boys' vests were the only thing I purchased new for Easter and G of course wanted everyone to match them), open Easter gifts, and get things ready for church mostly on time for us to leave.  But I almost forgot about the egg bake!  So I called to S and asked him if he could set the oven for the egg bake while I finished packing the diaper bag.  He did so with no problem and off we went to church.  When we got home there was 3 minutes left on the oven timer and everything looked like it went perfectly!  But I didn't smell anything...so I opened the oven door to check and there was NOTHING in it.  I meant for S to put the egg bake in the oven and set it, but he did exactly what I asked him too and just set the oven for the egg bake which he assumed I had already thrown in there.  My perfect plan was toast.  Grrr.

Soooooooooooooo.  Instead of waiting another hour for the egg bake to be done since it was already after 1, we decided to have "Easter" macaroni & cheese and hot dogs instead.  =)  And you know what?  It was easy to make, the kids gobbled it up, and we had a nice relaxing afternoon together, plus now I have a meal ready to go for this week!

Typically at our house, plans never seem to go perfectly, but we do our best to go with the flow and sometimes things work out for the better.

(But lots of times we all end up yelling and in tears, too...don't get me wrong.  It's a daily struggle to live life with a measure of grace, but we try, and try to teach the kids how to do that too!)

Alleluia!

(craft found here)

Alleluia, Jesus is King!

music and lyrics, Emily Lund

Alleluia!  Jesus is King!  

Alleluia!  Let the heavens ring!

Alleluia!  From death to life,

He won the victory, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Alleluia, up from the grave.

Alleluia, mighty to save!

Alleluia!  The crucified,

God's own provision, Christ is alive!

Alleluia, lift up your voice!

Alleluia, sing and rejoice!

Alleluia, in Him we rise,

Out from our misery, up to the skies!

Alleluia!  forevermore!

Alleluia, Christ we adore!

Alleluia! Ever we sing,

Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Jesus is King!

Alleluia!

Happy Easter!

for our youngest niece on the occasion of her first birthday party...

Dear E,

Thank you so much for the invitation to your 1st birthday party.  Can you really be that big already?  We wish we didn't live 8 hours away from you so that we could see and play with you more.  Unfortunately we will not be able to make the trip for your party today, but we really hope that you have a wonderful time with the friends and family that are able to be there! 

And your mom told us that you were going to have rainbow cupcakes for your birthday party, what fun!  We decided to make the same cupcakes (fun project with your cousins and some friends that were visiting!) and have a little party for you today at our house, so that we could be part of your celebration too.

We love you and can't wait to see you again!
Love,
Uncle S, Auntie C, G, W, C, and baby H

75 hours...

G has been reading and filling these clocks out all year in 1st grade.  She started out having to read everything out loud to us, and then as her reading ability grew, she was able to log hours that she read to herself as long as she told us what she read about.  And Mrs. Hielkema has had rewards for levels of hours that the kids have accomplished.  10 hours, 15 hours, 25 hours, 45 hours, 60 hours...and what those prizes were I couldn't tell you because it all leads up to the best prize of all for reading 75 hours - GOING OUT FOR ICE CREAM WITH THE TEACHER!  This has been a long time tradition in Mrs. Hielkema's classes which is a great motivator and wonderful memory that many of her students have.

G handed in her 75th hour of reading this week, so today was the big day.  I didn't have to pick G up from school because Mrs. Hielkema took G Dairy Queen for ice cream, and then brought her home.  You have never seen a more excited and happy girl!

Great job reading sweetie, and thanks Mrs. Hielkema for such a great memory for G!