"Tot-School" Week 1

First of all I want to give credit, where credit is due. I stumbled across the idea of "tot-school" over at 1+1+1=1 .  Her blog is full of wonderful ideas! She has been a huge inspiration to me in working with my younger children.

I also want to add, that we don't push our children. Our goal is not to create a child genius. Our goal is to spend some quality time with our children and nourish their natural curiosity about the world around them. If they are not feeling up to "school work" that day, we just snuggle on the couch and read some good stories.

This week we are working with the Letter A, and number 2. Here is a break down of our days;

Day 1, Monday: Introduction of letter A and number 1- I'm not a huge fan of flashcards, in the sense of just memorizing facts and regurgitating them. We use flashcards as a tool to familiarize our kids with the shape and look of the letter/number. I show Hurricane the flashcard and we trace the letter with our fingers and talk about words that begin with that letter. The number flashcards are used to familiarize him with what the number looks like and what a grouping of objects look like in that number.

                              We also read Dr. Seuss's Amazing Alphabet Book. He really loved this one. Dr. Seuss is always a hit around here.

Day 2, Tuesday: This day we used our "sand box" to write the letter an and number one. I poured some colored sand into a pencil box. It's just big enough to write a letter with the added bonus of being able to close the lid and contain all of that sand.

In addition to this activity, we read a stack of books about a mile high. Okay, maybe not quite that high, but you get the idea.

Day 3, Wednesday: Today we worked on some scissor practice. I choose a page from Kids Learning Station. He really enjoyed this.

We also made some art with bingo daubers. This activity was a huge hit.

Day 4 Thursday: Today we colored and put 1 sticker on our number one page.

 We also played with our letter and number magnets. I have a cookie sheet that I place the capital letter on, and he has to find the lower case letter to match. We play the same game with the numbers.         

Sunshine on a cold, January day.

I was craving some chocolate this morning, and upon searching through my pantry, I discovered there was not a single chocolate chip to be found. No chocolate chips? This can’t be! What’s a girl to do? Improvise, that’s what.
I searched through my Grandpa’s recipe book and came across “Sunshine Balls.” I figured this would work since they involve carob or cocoa powder and peanut butter. Yum! Who doesn’t love chocolate and peanut butter?

I had to change it up a bit since I didn’t have some of the ingredients. I used cocoa powder and in place of the milk I used Goat milk, since we have some dairy issues. I also only had peanut butter on hand so I just used 2/3 cup of that. As you can see from the picture, I rolled them in sesame seeds. In my opinion they are much better when rolled in coconut, but I didn’t have any.
Here’s the recipie:
Sunshine Balls
“Take a look at this, my sweet;
Here’s a treat that’s hard to beat!“
1/3 cup Peanut Butter
1/3 cup any nut butter
1/4 cup honey
2 TBS. molasses
1 TBS milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 TBS. carob or cocoa powder
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup dates, cut up
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup chopped nuts
1. Mix together nut butters, honey, molasses, milk, and vanilla.
2. Add carob/cocoa and blend.
3. Stir dates, nuts, and seeds together and add all at once.
4. Blend mixture thoroughly, roll into marble size balls, then roll in coconut, or finely chopped nuts, or sesame seeds.
5. Store in the refrigerator.
Special Note: The yield is a secret. It all depends on how many you eat while making them.
As I mentioned, this recipe comes from my Grandpa’s recipe book called “Natural Foods Sampler.” Please respect his hard work and tell people where you found this recipe. I have copies of the book available for a small fee. If you are interested, let me know either by commenting below or e-mailing me.
Peace!

David Platt hit the nail on the head.

This is my review of Radical by David Platt. First off, I have to say that this book was great! It is exactly what my husband and I have been looking for since arriving back home from after a year long deployment with the Army National Guard. While we were serving in Iraq, we attended many services lead by Army Chaplains. There was never a worry about how much money was coming in this week, or how many butts were sitting in the seats. It was about worshiping God and thanking him for protecting us for yet another day. We all came just as we were, nothing more, nothing less. David Platt challenges us to leave behind the false doctrines we've created by twisting scripture and follow Christ.

"We need to return with urgency to a biblical gospel, because the cost of not doing so is great for our lives, our families, our churches, and the world around us."

I absolutely agree with this statement. We have been lulled to sleep and we need to wake up. I believe this book is just one of many wake up calls we have been given. I just pray that people heed the advice Mr. Platt has to give. ~This book was provided free for review by WaterBrook Maltnomah Publishing Group.

I know it's been a long time.

I never have been good at keeping up with a journal or blog. Oh well, I am who I am, and I'm learning to embrace that. If you're coming here to see an up to date blog, you're in the wrong place. This really is just a place for me to ramble on about things that interest me at the time.


Anyway, I'm back because I have something to say. I've been reading a lot lately. I just finished Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo. I loved it! It was an amazing account of heaven from a 4 year old's perspective. It's reinforced my thoughts on Heaven. I can not say enough about it. I believe that everyone should read it.

I've also been thinking a lot about parenting styles. Most of my thoughts are because I feel so lost some days in what to do with these children that God has blessed me with. I know I want to be a gentle parent and parent the way I believe that Jesus would have. It's so easy to fall into that trap of yelling and trying to control them. After all, that's what a lot of so called "parenting experts" would want us to believe. Their way is the best way, period. In the coming days, I will be sharing my thoughts on this subject. The good, the bad and the ugly.

A whole different world

I the world of an "average family" being considered 1 or 2 kids, we look very different. Most people didn't say anything when I had three. Some would comment, but it was mostly about the fact that they are all three boys. Now that I have baby, things have changed. I hear a lot of, "You look very busy.", and "Finally got your girl huh?". While I understand that most people mean well, it's enough to know that people are staring at me. They don't have to say something too. Do they stop to think of how it makes the boys feel when they ask, "Finally got your girl?" Like my three boys weren't enough, we had to have a girl. I was just happy having boys and would've been just as happy had little Raindrop come out a girl too. I love all my children. They are all from God, regardless of their gender.

Don't even get me started on going out to eat. Even though Raindrop is only 3.5 months old, we still have to seat 5 people. Most places aren't' set up for that. Why? I have no idea. Our food takes forever for some reason and it's always expensive.

Regardless, I love my family. I don't care what others think, when I come through the store with all my kids in tow. They are loud, there's lots of us and we will be out in public. Too bad if you don't like it.

Surviving

This summer is going way too fast! I can't believe we are already in August. I remember summers lasting for, what seemed like, forever when I was a kid. We have had a busy summer here. It's been stormy, like much of the country, and now hot. Very hot. We are surviving though. My house is a constant mess, but the kids are happy and healthy. Adding #4 into the mix hasn't added much stress, but she sure keeps me busy.

We took a family walk yesterday evening to the lake. It was so fun. The older boys rode their bikes and daddy pushed our 2 year old and baby in the stroller. We all got some great exercise and got to see, and hold, a frog.

It seems that, even though things can and often are stressful, in this stage of raising kids we have wonderful opportunities to make lasting memories with our children. My kids are still talking about small trips we've taken and times we've had with one another in years past. We don't take big trips to Disney World, though they'd love that too. We just make the most of what is available to us locally.

So, I encourage anyone who reads this to look at a map and decide how far you are willing to drive, draw a radius around your home and explore. You can try a new park, take a trip to a small town near you, or even just spend some time in the yard with your kids. Make some lasting memories without adding stress.

Getting back to it.

This full moon has brought me back to my energy work. It feels so wonderful to get back into doing what God wants me to do. I had kept saying I needed to get back to it. I feel more in balance when I do energy work and I hadn't been working on it for quite some time. Well, a friend asked me to do a reading for her and it was great!