Articles Archive for August 2007
Tips & Tricks »
you know, because i have it all figured out…
this is when we packed to go to my mom’s for 3 days.
i use gallon-sized freezer ziplocks. and i put two kids’ clothes per bag. i seperate them by days, and types of clothing. for instance… one ziplock contains pajamas for sunday night for my 2 youngest. it includes diapers. so when i bathe them for the night i pull out the bag and i have all i need. for the 2 oldest i put monday play clothes, including socks and underwear for each. so, then, monday when we get up the boys go find the bag with their names on it and put their clothes on, they get to practice reading the days of the week and identifying letters and recognizing their names. this helps while we’re there to stay somewhat contained, but it also helps while packing. you know you haven’t forgotten any set of clothing for any day, because it’s all labeled. and since they’re all so small and make so many messes! - i packed a couple of extra bags of clothes, appropriately labeled “extra play clothes” or “extra goin’ out clothes”. the three big kids slept in the fold-up kid tent and my youngest slept in the pack-n-play. (and no, i didn’t take my sewing machine, i just packed on my sewing table!)
packed and ready to load.
and here’s a fully packed picture just for fun!
(as a kid, i was always amazed at my dad’s packing abilities. paying attention to him definitely paid off!)
HeSays »
following the news that the new small-town pharmacy only charged us $15.95 for the long-awaited zoloft (we couldn’t afford it ’til this payday) that wal-mart charged us $55 for, my husband said, “you mean i’ve had to live with you without zoloft for 2 months over $30.00?!”
TheySay »
a little dose of reality.
their daddy saw the boys doing this the other day…
daddy - “what’s that about?”
“I”
“HATE”
“YOU”
Much O' Nothin' »
but i’ve been checking my site meter because it appeared that i was getting around 40-50 hits a day before i moved here and then it dropped to 2. good grief. so then i realized i didn’t point my site meter here correctly. good grief again for a different reason. and now i’ve been lurking at y’all lurking. and can i ask, solely for my peace of mind if you are victoria, mississippi will you at least send me a completely anonymous email (go to my silly me page and then click email)? i’m the paranoid type (have i mentioned that before?) and i just want to make sure you’re not stalking my babies. don’t really know what i’d do if you said you were. and if you don’t respond i’m sure my paranoia level will reach unsafe levels. so, for my sanity, what’s left of it, will you please contact me?
Understanding »
everybody went to bed in their very own beds last night.
and this is where my honey found us this morning.
this is boy2 in our bed. but at 3:30a he was here
and why am i missing from my own bed?
because i’m on the couch with my infant - who also doesn’t sleep in his own bed.
(disclaimer, yes, i am well aware that i could make them sleep where they belong. but in this season in my life, i’m actually happier playing musical beds, than to have a bunch of crying people in my house at 2:30a. i have that enough without bringing it upon myself. and how long will this season last anyway, you know?)
SystematicChaos »
i’ve always said art is not about how your hand draws, but how your eyes see. (then i always crack up over the fact that the impressionism movement must have started with a severely nearsighted artist)
yesterday we learned about the element of line in art. that sounds all fancy but it’s really not. i laid blue painter’s tape down on the floor in the kitchen in a (sorta) straight line, broken lines, zig zag lines, and curved lines (not shown). we walked and jumped on them.
then we looked up an impressionist artist - no clue now who it was - you know that was yesterday. and talked about the different types of lines in the picture. then i brought them to the table where i had all this laid out.
i still had my watercolor pencils from high school (very cool, by the way - you color with them and then “paint” with plain water over them to make a “watercolor” kind of picture).
pretty fun, i say. you know, as much fun as you can have painting with a 2 year old - spilling water, grabbing for someone else’s color, tearing the paper…
but then these made it all worth it:
i drew the flower and girl for her to paint. the rest is hers. as she was painting over the girl, “mama, my prinshesh go away.” “yeah, that happens with watercolors, it’ll be alright.”
my second son drew this one. “me and my baby brother”
also by my second son. “rainbow”
my oldest son’s. “my two brothers and sister are the best.” that’s boy2, girl, and boy3 in the picture.
(credits for the tape idea go to harcourt publishing - art everywhere [thanks, aunt jill!])
Somethin' »
our church is participating in The C.A.L.L. they showed this video a couple of weeks ago at church (i missed it at the time, but my honey said it was very stirring).
it is truly a God-sized mission. they are aiming to have no waiting children in foster care in pulaski county, arkansas by november 2008. wow. how much impact could that have on our children? on our state? on your life?
i’m not sure i’ve seen a real-life Christ-led life-changing opportunity like this one. ever. go to the site. watch the video. allow yourself to be convicted. and realize - if you’re waiting to be “called” - you missed the boat. you already have been. not by this video. but about 3000 years ago.
this has been a hot topic in my ring of friends lately. adoption is everywhere. and i used to look at it as “do i want to adopt?” but it’s not about me. it’s about the kids. as a friend said recently, “if these kids were standing on the side of the road with a sign saying that they were hungry and in pain - we’d pick them up and take them home to feed them. but they’re not, they’re hidden away and it allows us to sit complacently and say, “wow, i sure am glad somebody else was called to help them.” i’m a prime example of waiting. i have a newborn and we just moved. they urge you to not do this if you’ve had a life-changing event in your life within the last year. but, maybe, just maybe, those of us who will have no more children of our own, but will have aching arms and hearts to hold more little ones of our own, maybe we have a new little one to hold just waiting on us. and after all, who models adoption as the most loving “you are mine” picture better than God. we are adopted into the kingdom. He chose us. and brought us home.
do what you can, when you can.
