Easter Funny

A few days after Easter, my daughter came to me and asked if she could have some of her chocolate bunny. The bunny was solid, dark chocolate, and I didn't think anything of it as I sent her on her way with the bunny in hand. She came to me a few minutes later, bloody tooth in one hand, and her bunny in the other. "My tooth fell out!" she cried. At first I panicked, because she didn't have any loose teeth ready to come out. "Was the bunny that hard?" I wondered. Seeing visions of a toothless child with teeth falling out all over the place, I remembered that she had been complaining about her two bottom teeth hurting. So I checked the other one next to it, and sure enough, it was loose. Since it wasn't to the point of hanging on by a thread, her tooth coming out was a total shock.

I wanted to take a picture to commemorate the "big event" so I put her in front of the window and she showed me her missing tooth. Later when I downloaded pictures, I learned that she and Thomas had taken pictures of each other with their bunnies, as they didn't want to eat them unless they could "preserve" them. So essentially, I have a "before" picture, and an "after" picture. It cracked me up. The pictures are so similar, as if I planned them.

Anna's Easter Fair

A couple of weeks before Easter, my daughter Anna announced that she was going to have an Easter party. She was going to charge $1.00 for each person to come (she has a little store- so cute- and wanted to set it up at the front door.) I told her it probably wasn't nice to charge people to come to a party, but maybe we could do an Easter "fair?" She liked that idea and quickly made invitations for each of her invitees. Now, I had three teeth pulled around this time and was not very involved in the process until I realized she was serious about making this happen. So after seeing how she had spelled the words on her invitations, I wrote out the words and she re-did them. The attempt was great for a five year-old, but I wasn't sure the recipients would be able to read them!

Anyway, she wrote out all the invitations for "Monday at 6 pm." It turned out that we could not do it the Monday before Easter, but we did have it yesterday, the day after. (Which is nice because Easter stuff is 50% off by then!) We set up 5 "games." One was a long jump. If you could jump to the first line, you got to pick one egg out of the basket. If you could jump to the second, you could pick two eggs. Oh, I forgot to say that Anna gave each guest 5 tickets that she cut up, and you had to pay a ticket to do each game. Another game was jumping on the mini-tramp, and reaching up to lines taped on the wall. (First line- one egg, second line- two eggs, etc.) Then we had two ball toss games, and finally, a trivia question. Once everyone used their tickets, we sat down for "tea" (oreos and grape juice) and allowed each guest to pick an egg that had an Easter trivia question. If they knew the answer, they got to pick an egg. The questions were simple biblical questions pertaining to Jesus' crucifixion. The eggs that they got for prizes had candy or a Snoopy Easter toy that I had collected over the years.

Anna was a wonderful host, and even in the planning stages really amazed me. She had an idea, and while I could have told her no, I realized how beneficial it would be for her to carry out her creative plan. She had to count tickets to make sure that she had enough for each child if they all came. I didn't realize this until later, but she only invited enough guests so that there would be enough tea party supplies. I had been wondering why she didn't invite all her little friends, and only invited three girls that live on our street, and later she mentioned her thoughts on the matter. She is so bright!

It was so much fun, I'm thinking about doing something like this every year. Here is a picture of Anna counting her money. When Anna said she was going to "get ready" for the fair, it was five minutes before it was supposed to start. That is why she is wearing this:

Candy-free Easter Baskets

You've JUST finished the Halloween candy, and it is already time to think about Easter. You pass by the candy in the store, you may have even purchased some to put out with your Easter decorations. Maybe you have even already eaten it all! It is so tempting, isn't it? I remember, "back in the day" when my children were younger, before they knew what sugar was. Life was so simple then! They are now 3 and almost 5...and the battle of sugar began long ago, when people began dangling M&M's, suckers, and taffy in front of them.
We know that sugar is not good for the body. We know that sugar is horrible on teeth. Yet, we continue to celebrate every holiday by showering our children with candy! What is wrong with us? Actually, we have done pretty well, personally, but family members LOVE giving the kids candy. What they don't realize is that if every family member gives them candy...that's a LOT of candy! We usually end up throwing it away before they eat it all, and they never even notice. But if they know where it is, they will sneak into it when they aren't supposed to and I've been known to dump the whole bowl in the trash when I catch them. Candy to children is like drugs to an addict...if they know it's there, they just can't stay away from it.
There will be no candy in our Easter baskets this year. We MIGHT include a small chocolate bunny, but really, we can be more creative than that! We usually think about spring toys, bathing suits, and other things necessary for spring and summer, and to help you get the juices flowing, we've compiled this list. Choose age appropriate items for your children and watch them enjoy!

blow-up beach ball
bouncy balls
bubbles
change purse
color wonder book w/ markers
coloring book
crayons
cross necklace
hairbows
hand puppets
handbag (Use the handbag as the basket!)
jump rope
magna doodle
matchbox cars
play doh or silly putty
sand toys
sandals
sidewalk chalk
small puzzle
sunglasses
swim goggles
swim suit
temporary tattoos
wooden beads/strings
yo-yo
One idea for the family that does an egg hunt AND Easter baskets; you can get one of those make your own puzzle kits at a craft store and put one puzzle piece in each egg. The puzzle can show a picture (for younger children) of where the Easter basket is located. For older children, a riddle or map can lead them to their goodies. Children LOVE this kind of stuff. If you have more than one child, they will not fight over who has the best candy. They will work together on the puzzle so they can find their Easter baskets. You can also make your own puzzle at home, by cutting the picture or paper into smaller pieces.
Have a wonderful Easter, and we hope with these ideas, it is the most fun and healthiest Easter for you yet! Don't forget to tell your little ones what Easter is REALLY all about!

Valentine's Day

A couple of weeks ago, my 5 year-old daughter asked me, "What is happy Valentine's Day again?" To which I replied...
"It's a day that someone invented a long time ago so that people would go out and spend money on things just to tell their loved ones that they love them."

Somehow, that explanation made her remember all the candy and little goodies she got from family in the mail last year. Unfortunately, it's possible that while the kids remember this stuff, the adults may not remember this year, and send nothing in the mail. What a huge disappointment this will be for them! As much as I despise the trinkets and things, I don't like the sad faces because they literally think, "maybe they don't love me anymore?" Uggghhhh.

So anyway, this weekend we've been working on making Valentine's cards. My sister, who would never forget Valentine's Day, already sent them gifts, which came in the mail Friday. They each got a dress-up outfit for their BuildABear animals, a BAB "pawsport", and a couple of other little things. So my creative daughter decided that we should take pictures of their animals in their new costumes and use them for part of my sister's Valentine cards. She even went so far as to suggest we should take a picture of the front and the back, so that she could turn the card over and see the back of the bear as well. How creative! Our project got stalled when I tried to print the pictures out for them and realized we were out of color in the printer. Ooops! Anyway, here they are. Hopefully we will have pics of the cards in a couple of days before we send them off!

Christmas Eve

Since the kids are 5 and 6 now, we are able to do more things together and start Christmas traditions that they are involved in. Of course, we went to the Christmas Eve candlelight/communion service. This was Thomas' first communion after asking Jesus into his heart so it was a special moment for that reason as well. When we got home, we made cookies with the Christmas cookie cutters so that we could leave Santa fresh, homemade cookies. (They were organic as well!) We had fun decorating them with different colored frosting. In this picture, you can tell how excited the kids are that it is Christmas Eve and Santa will be coming soon!!

P.S. My daughter decided one day to put a tattoo on her head, so imagine how delighted I was that all of her pictures have a mark on her forehead! :o(

Santa Claus Came to Town!

Every year in Anthony, the city puts up the "Santa House" in front of the shops on Main Street. It's just a little house that looks like a living room inside where Santa sits and waits for children to visit. Every year since his birth, it's been the same ol' thing... my son won't go near Santa. Well, I take that back, we got a picture of him one year, but he looked terrified in the picture. So this year I had no idea what would happen. I knew how excited he was to see Santa, but I figured he would balk once we set foot in the house. He even knew what to tell him he wanted: Star Wars Legos.

So one afternoon we went, and he went right up to Santa, sat on his lap and had an entire conversation with him! I was dumfounded. I was in tears as I took pictures. This is a huge milestone for him, and just another sign that he is growing up FAST!

Now, my daughter was another story. While SHE is usually very friendly and talkative, she took the back seat this time and wouldn't go up to Santa. We left the little house, and she decided once she knew what she wanted, she would go back and visit with him. So a couple of days later, we returned with a card for Santa that told him exactly what she wanted. Also, Thomas wrote down the specific Star Wars Legos he wanted: the Imperial Landing Craft.

Since this was a HUGE milestone and I was SO proud of him, of course I HAD to make sure he got the ONE thing he asked for. I also got what my daughter asked for, and both turned out to be their favorite gifts. It's ironic, considering this is the year that we started to wean them from Santa. This is probably the last year for my son, as he will be 7 next Christmas. And I'm sure once we tell him about Santa, he won't be able to keep the news from his little sister. They each got a couple of gifts from Santa, and the rest were from me. Usually almost all is from Santa, and I can never remember what is from Santa and what is from me. What a mess!

A New Christmas Tradition

Now that my kids are getting older, I feel like we are able to do more fun projects and really start some family traditions at Christmas time. About a month ago, we ran across a gingerbread house kit where everything is provided and you just build it and decorate it yourself. Last year, we got together with our homeschool group and made little houses out of graham crackers, and that was fun, too. Each child brought a bag of candy, so we had enough variety to decorate the houses. I hope to organize that this year, and if so I will take pictures of those houses to share.

The kids had fun with this one, and it is so cute. With the candies that were provided, it would be difficult to make a bad looking house. It's just so colorful and cheerful. Hopefully it will survive the year and we will be able to use it again, but I've seen the dog eyeing it. We'll see!

Thanksgiving Activities

We just arrived in Atlanta today, about 1,000 miles from home. And I can see the unused Thanksgiving projects that have been waiting for us to use since LAST Thanksgiving tucked away in our craft cabinet back home in Kansas. I am kicking myself. You know how you are driving further away from home, knowing that you forgot to pack something, and wishing you could just figure out what it is so you can move on to thinking about something else? Sigh. At least I didn't forget something that we can't live without!

Anyway, we will still be doing something for Thanksgiving. I brought some reading, handwriting, and math work to complete. And for Thanksgiving we will probably make our "Tree of Thanks" which is a brown tree with trunk and limbs. We make colorful leaves and write something on each leaf that we are thankful for. One thing that I like to remember is to be thankful all year. We do a pretty good job of this. But Thanksgiving is a yearly reminder for me to keep this up. Thankfully (see, I'm good!) my kids are still pretty thankful for the little things. I love how they get so excited! I see other kids who think they are too good for things. They can't enjoy the little things and can't even stop to say "thank you" when they have received a gift. These are the same kids who rip through their toys on Christmas day without even looking at them and get to the end, looking for more. If your child is like this, what can you do to help him appreciate what he has received?

Feel free to share what you will be doing this Thanksgiving. Maybe it will give us an idea for another project to do together.

The week after we returned from our trip, I got out our "Trees of Thanks". Here they are!

Veteran's Day

We have a very patriotic town, which maybe is typical for small towns. American flags adorned main street yesterday and today, and many houses displayed their flags as well. As I ran a quick errand and passed by Municipal Hall, I could tell something was happening. After enquiring, I found out that every Veteran's Day, the older school children do a report and display on either a family member who is/was a veteran, or someone else they know. The younger kids sing, and there is a speech. So Thomas, Anna, and I made our way, they on their bikes, me on my shoes, up to Municipal Hall. It was a very emotional tribute to those who have served, as each branch of the military had veterans who stood to receive an American flag from a child. But I came away with one thing I will never forget.

In the speech, Randy, one of our postal workers, provided statistics for how many people served in our military during each war, compared to the population of the time. By far, there are MUCH fewer serving the military today even though our population has exploded. What does that say about us? While many would blame the Iraq war and our poor leadership, it isn't that. Have we lost our patriotism? Are our children growing up to become apathetic? What exactly is it?

More than once I have looked at my son and teared up imagining him serving in the military and putting his life at risk. But today I reminded myself that if that is what God calls him to do when he grows up, there is nothing I can say or do to change his mind. After all, someone has to serve, and I know my son would be a good soldier and an excellent leader.

I remember reading an article recently about the "education" that schooled children receive in public school. It stated that the job most frequently taken by a public high school graduate was...get this...a Wal-mart employee! I don't know how true that is, and I wish I could remember where I found the article, but that would explain where all our would-have-been soldiers are- working at Wal-mart!

To those brave men and women who have served our country, and those currently serving, I offer a very gracious thank you on behalf of my children and me. The fact that we can homeschool without our government knocking down our doors makes me very grateful for the soldiers who have provided this freedom and the many other freedoms we enjoy.

THANK YOU!!!

What was your child for Halloween?

It is still Halloween as I post this, but my kids are out with their dad, so I have time to play with the pictures I took before they went out in the cold (and wind!) Here in Anthony, we have a "parade" downtown where the merchants hand candy out to the kids and it ends up at Municipal Hall where there is a costume contest. It is broken down into age groups, so thankfully my son and daughter were in two different groups.

My daughter's group was before my son's, and I stood on stage with her as the three "judges" discussed their favorite costumes. I saw them whispering about Anna and hoped for the best. I gave her one last whisper of, "remember if you don't win, be happy for the person who does..." just before they awarded the winner- a huge pink purse- which was really cute (of course, not as cute as my Anna!) but you could tell a lot of work went into it. Later, when we got into the van, Anna was just happy that people recognized that she was dressed as Pippi Longstocking! Apparently that was enough for her! (And it helped my ego when people kept asking how we got her hair to stay up. I couldn't believe they couldn't see the wire!)

Thomas went up with the first grade group, and we got into position so that we could see the action. We scoped out the competition. Anna wanted me to hoist her up so she could see, which made me think that the braids weren't such a good idea after all. I must have gotten poked in the eye three times! But when I saw the emcee walk towards Thomas with the "envelope" and announce, "the judges don't want to get arrested after the contest!" I forgot about my eyeball and beamed with pride. (Of course, I immediately worried about Anna feeling jilted, but she had just been handed a half-dollar for her contest so she didn't really notice.) Thomas stepped to the front of the stage where pictures were taken of the winner from each group. Of course, I didn't have my camera for some strange reason, but we took pictures later at home. Isn't he adorable?!

If you would like to share your child's Halloween pictures, please feel free and I'll post them on the blog.

Here are Lisa's children from Busy Buds