Telling the Truth

Happy 30th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!
Thanks for telling the truth with your lives.



[Marriage is] mainly about telling the truth with our lives. It's about portraying something true about Jesus Christ and the way he relates to His people. It is about showing in real life the glory of the gospel.

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Over And Over Again

He is faithful.
He is for me.
In Him, we are more than conquerors.

Over and over I repeat these things in my head.
It's one of the reasons I love to fill my day with music that reminds me of these things.
A life can look so perfect from the outside looking in.
But even the happiest have struggles and trials and mountains to climb.
We are all the same.
Only facing trials of varying intensity and flavour.

Reminders.
Over and over again.

Hope casts out all fear.
It is finished.
He has overcome.

He never fails.

And as I whisper into the ear of a babe so sweet
I love you.
I will always love you.
I just can't stop.
There's nothing you can do to make me stop loving you...
I think of Him.
In whose image I am made.
Who's child I am.
My mother love is but a drop of what His is.
As strongly and fiercely as I love,
It is imperfect and flawed in a million ways.

But His...

It is strong
Reliable
Forever
Unending

Take comfort, believer
For you are His
Over and over again
Take comfort


*Thoughts inspired by this song:



Corduroy {BFIAR}


The past week started out with the most beautiful day!
We weren't about to waste it so I packed the girls up and headed to a lake near our home!
We decided to bring along our baby salamanders and release them.
I was afraid keeping them much longer would be their demise!
We found the perfect spot to say good bye and returned the nymphs back to the wild!



We continued on to the beach.
The morning there was pure bliss.
I totally should have brought their bathing suits but figured the water would be too cold.
Silly Mama!
I should have known!
By the end they were soaked, covered in sand and grinning from ear to ear!

 

 
The rest of the week was spent 'rowing' Corduroy by Don Freeman.



In the book, Corduroy the bear is purchased by a little girl who loves him despite his imperfection - a missing button.
She kindly sews one back on for him.
The girls delighted in the opportunity to get their hands on some buttons this week, too!
They adore looking through them and discovering pretty and unique ones!

They sorted them by color and counted them.

 


 
And tried their hand at 'sewing' with them!
I assembled these sewing hoops for them using embroidery hoops and onion bag netting.
Then they used yarn and plastic needles to sew buttons onto their hoop!

 


Another day, I set up a toy store just like the one Corduroy was in!
I lined up their stuffed animals, added price tags to them, set up a cash and pulled out our box of plastic (Canadian!) money!
At first, I was the cashier so they could see how to play the part of customer and cashier.
I even made them do something (like dance for me) to earn money once they ran out of cash!
Once they saw how 'toy store' was played, they took over and shopped and sold for much of the morning!


In Corduroy, Lisa, the little girl, is able to return to the store and purchase the bear with money she had saved in her piggy bank.
This lead a disscussion about money - how we earn it and what we should do with it.
This resulted in a craft in which the girls began making 3 banks each - spend, save and share.
We haven't quite completed them yet since we spent a lot of time discussing the 3 banks.
Spend is for money that you can use anytime.
(Such as at yard sales or candy shop.)
Save is for keeping money in until you have enough to purchase something specific.
(They are going to pick something specific and take a picture of it to add to this bank as a goal to save for.)
Share is for giving in the offering at church and to others in need.
( I used our sponser child as an example for them.)

Next, they assembled chore charts.
They recieve ten cents for each chore they do each day.
Their chores don't include things they are expected to do any way like put their dirty clothes in the laundry or clear their dishes from the table.
No, these chores are fun and exciting!
Like vacuuming or washing dishes!
My girls are pumped to not only get to do these awesome jobs but to get paid for them, too!
I'm not much of a chart mom so this system may not last long but it was the only way that I could think of for them to consistently earn money.
I think it is really important that they learn money sense from a young age and this is a fun way to begin!

For the rest of the morning, Piper was running around the house doing stuff and after each chore she would run to me with her hand out and excitedly yell, "MONEY!"
I gently explained that she wouldn't get the money until the end of the day.
Instead, she moves the corresponding chore sticker to her chart to show that she completed it!



Piper continued on with her nature journal this week entering forget-me-nots and crab apple blossoms.
She is quite diligent with this and enjoys finding the right crayon to match the flower's color.
I am learning a lot, too, since I am completely clueless about flower names.
Seriously - I had to Google what those pretty blue wild flowers were!




They week ended with a trip to Daddy's work!



He had taken our praying mantis eggs there and called to say they had hatched during the night!
I am so grateful it happened at his work becuase they escaped their little cage!
Thankfully, he had them in an aquarium in his classroom so they didn't get far!
We visited him at school to check out the new little hatchlings and I was pleasantly surprised -
I actually like these insects!
Normally, I won't go near any insects (on purpose) but for some reason praying manti don't gross me out at all!
I even held one willingly!
They're {almost} cute!
They girls wouldn't touch them but really enjoyed watcing them!
Once our garden is planted next week, we plan on releasing them as an organic form of pesticide!




Phew!
And I wondered why I didn't find any time to blog this past week!
These posts always remind me of how much we actually do!
But are we ever having fun!










Salamanders, Food Chains and Flowers


This week we took a break from our scheduled learning.
Instead we dabbled in various things that came our way.
Although I certainly don't think I could school my kids like this all the time ( I need a schedule and a plan! ), I quite enjoy every so often takng a week and filling it with learning about things they are curious about or taking advantage of opportunities that everyday life provides.
This week was filled with lots of talk about salamanders since our eggs hatched, food chains and flowers!

First, of all, we read this book: The Salamander Room by Ann Mazer.
It's about a little boy who finds a salamander and his ideas about building a habitat for it in his room.
It lead to many good discussions about caring for our own salamanders!



We learned that salamanders are carnivorous.
Piper was none too happy about this!
She is not pleased with the idea of animals eating other animals especially if the eaten creature is an ant.
That girl of mine LOVES ants!
So when we found some tiny ants to feed to our baby salamanders a lot of discussion ensued about food chains and the necessity of them.
We watched "The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten"....


 




And then came up with our own food chain involving the ants and salamander nymphs.
Initially, I drew the pictures as Piper came up with answers of what eats what.
(For the record, I doubt ants live on a diet of bread, nor do bears commonly eat cats but it's what she came up with and since it is possible, we went with it!)
Next, I asked Pipe to draw her own food chain.
She drew an ant.
Then she drew herself.
"This is an ant and this is me. I love ants!"
Sigh.
I'm not so sure that lesson was overly successful!
But she did draw a pretty great picture and so I congratulated her on that and we moved on!
:)



Taitum learned blue this week.


This provided a good chance to talk about how flowers 'drink' water and how it is necessary for them to grow.

 


As another color blue activity we bought some water beads.
The girls had such a grea time with this and Taitum especially enjoyed it, asking to play with them several times a day!

If you've never tried these with your kids, you should!
You can find them in the flower section at Walmart.
(Also, they are non toxic.)
You simply fill a container with water and pour the tiny beads in.
The girls played with them for a while at this stage and could already see them increasing in size!
Piper enjoyed trying to grab as many as she could and then counting to see how many were in her hand.



By the next day, they were quite a bit larger!
I gave the girls some tools to use for pouring and scooping and they went to town!
By the end of it there was quite the puddle on my kitchen floor but it was well worth it for all the fun they had!





Near the end of the week the sun had decided to join us so we did some 'school time' outdoors.
The girls are always excited for school but when I announce that it's going to happen outside, they are over the moon!



We started our nature journals this week, too.
This is something I've been wanting to start with them for a while now but never got around to.
I think it will be part of our summer school plan.
(Which isn't as mean as it sounds! Haha! I'll explain more later!)
Here are pictures of the girls drawing pictures of the violets they found on one of our walks.
With Piper, I also write the name of the flower under her picture and then she copies it.


With Taitum, I am mainly focusing on her being able to identify what color the flower is and find the corresponding crayon!



That was our week!
Next week we are planning on 'rowing' Corduroy!








Hello, Warm Weather Day!



Hello, little cowgirl with the rainbow shorts,





Hello, goofy girl with the backwards helmet,





Hello, pinkest, sparkliest, girliest sandals we could find at Walmart,




Hello, curly head Hercules,




Hello, sweet sleepy sun bathed thumb sucker,





Hello, freshly bathed dirt magnet,




Hello, baby wearing shadow,




Hello, little sister with end of the day smiles.


Hello, happy, refresh my soul, warm weather day!







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Tales of a Tea Party

Mother's Day weekend was a busy one for all of us so although the girls got to see their grandmothers briefly that Sunday they weren't able to shower them with true Mother's Day specialness.
(Though I'm quite certain Mookie and Nana would say just getting a hug and kiss from these girls was more than enough specialness!)
Instead the girls presented invitations to a Mother's Day tea the following week.

Monday morning they got right to work - mixing and rolling...



Cutting out cookies
(Of course they chose the princess cookie cutters!)...



Icing cookies oh so perfectly....


Icing Mama's table, too....




Eating runaway sprinkles
(It's a hard job but someone has to do it!)...


By the end of the day we had a plate full of beautiful cookies!
The girls were SO proud and coud not wait for their tea party to commence!


Finally, the time arrived!
Piper helped set the table.
The bouquet in the middle is actually a science experiment but I'll share that with you later!
It made the perfect centerpiece to our table.
Piper picked out the table cloth - bright red, please and thank you!
And she used her tea set plates as well as the tea cups and pot for her and Tait to pour their own 'tea'.

Here's our little tea party with Mookie, Gran Nana and Nana:


This is my place setting.
Adorable, right?
The girls also made fingerprint hearts on those little easels for each grandmother.





It was so sweet how Piper and Taitum were able to put all the effort into spoiling their grandmothers!
I think both parties were delighted!


I NEVER thought I'd say this but tea parties are fun!
Before having 3 girls, tea parties were the last thing I was interested in.
Now I'm on the lookout for some real china tea cups!
Haha!
I do believe many more tea parties are in our future!






The Accomplishments of a 30 Year Old {From A Wife's Point of View}


To my Man...



You have rocked the double chin look
(Tehe!),





And passed it on!




You can make a mean pony,




And you're always up for a game of hairdresser.


You are unafraid of meal-making marathons.


Nor are you scared of little pirate attacks!



You are a teacher by trade but more importantly, at heart.




And you are always ready to have a whirling, twirling fun time!






You put up with your wife's taste in music (except when driving, understandably!),




You have the best birthday cake requests...hello, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Devil's Food Cake Cheesecake!
(although I have a sneaking suspicion that you choose such things because you know I like the challenge),




And you love me!
You really, really do!
(P.S. I really, really love you, too!)



So HAPPY 30th, Matt!
I'm so proud of all you've accomplished in a mere 30 years and so glad to be able to say I'm YOUR wife!

(Yes, this post is a day late. Yesterday was a I'm-too-tired-to-even-type-straight kinda day. But aren't you so glad I shared all this belated birthday joy anyways??)



Colors: Yellow, Red and Purple


Tot school has been a colorful scene these days...

 
Yellow




Pictures she took of things that are yellow while out for a walk.



Fingerpainting a yellow sunshine.


Red


We read this book.



Painted toenails.




Made Mother's Day cards by making celery rose prints.




Butterfly symmertry prints with red and yellow.


Purple


We read this book.





 


Drawing wall murals with a purple crayon.


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I love motherhood.

We're a smiling family.

I'm a covenant keeper.

I love my husband.

I am above self pity.

I am a nation builder.

Motherhood=Adventure

Worth more than rubies.


“I am more convinced than ever that even in the midst of the mundane, burdensome, and oftentimes frustrating tasks of life allotted to me as a mother, God wants me to find his joy. He wants every single day of my life to be a celebration of his blessings, whether large or small. He wants me to celebrate life ~ the life He has given me.”

~ Sally Clarkson







My Hubby

My Hubby
He's my bestest.

Piper

Piper
She is my compassionate, dramatic, fun to be around 6 year old. She loves to shop, get dressed up fancy and anything else that screams girly!

Taitum

Taitum
She is my goofy, snuggly 4 year old who loves to sing and dance and smile all day long!

Renly

Renly
She is our one year old smarty pants! She does all she can to keep up with her older sisters and to keep them in line!

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