Days To Remember G's Blog

Above is a vegetable dragonfly Hezekiah made today in learning about cultures and Houses and Homes around the world.  A little boy in Africa was making a vegetable animal in our book today.  Hezekiah made this with Page while Maggie and I attended the Parent fellowship at Eli's school. 

His dragonfly is made from a parsnip.  Because we had parsnips for dinner the other night and we had that instead of carrots. 

Above are Eli's creations.  Eli made me a heart necklace yesterday.  He made the hearts on Sunday and this morning he brought out a piece of string and started taping the hearts to the string.  So, yeah......alright, I admit.......totally melted my heart and I wore it proudly! 

He also said, "Mommy, I want to make daddy something." 

I said, "Well, Eli what do you think he might like?" 

Eli said, "I think daddy would like a snack bag." 

So he got 4 zip lock baggies, and taped them all together.  Then he said, "I think Daddy would like a scone."  So he put a scone in one bag, then he selected other things of what was on the counter.  But then he said, "Mommy, will you make Daddy a peanut butter sandwich and put it in this bag here?" 

I said, "Of course!" 

So he gave Page his snack bag when we took Page his lunch.  It was so cute to see Eli give Page the snack bag and how proud he was of his accomplishments. 

It warms my heart that he thinks of others and one of his ways of showing his love is by making things for them, in this case us!

I am also trying not to be selfish in how I expect things to be done.........what I am learning........you can do things more than one way. Our brains certainly work differently, my children's versus mine.

It is neat to see how unselfish Hezekiah can be with his school work and his learning. How he shares learning time with Eli and Maggie. It's pretty cool to see them all working together. That is pretty unselfish.......it's kind of like a team of little workers. Working together for the common good not complaining about one another.

Anyhow it is it is teaching me not to be selfish. I like this trait. I wish there were more of it.........being unselfish.

Being unselfish is being a good friend. Sharing........which is still hard at 36 let alone 6, 4, and 2. I want to press on to unselfishness. I want to do unto others as I would want done unto me.

Being inclusive -- do you know what that means? Including them, asking them if they are wanting to be involved in a task or getting together to hang out, not just assuming that they do not want to be apart of one thing or another because they have made changes in their life or alienating someone.

Being willing to be authentic -- breaking down the barriers and being real to the point at which you are raw and transparent. Willing to share your life with others.

Not being judgmental but more accepting.

Loving.

Not complaining about those you work with, serve with, or appear to be friends with. There just seems to be too much of that or has it always been there and I am just seeing it more these days? Oh... yes more love is all we need. I guess if we were less selfish we just might be more loving.

Only He can teach us these things.

I want more of those things above and less of what there seems to lie before me.

Change is good so maybe God is leading me onward to the best. The best of sharing life together. Finding those that are inclusive, authentic, caring, and who are willing to share their lives with me. I am looking forward to what is in store and trying to guard my mind and heart from what has been.

Hezekiah has been studying world cultures.  Last week we made a book about Egypt and this week we have been learning about different beliefs.  One of which is how some cultures wear masks and do dances to scare off evil spirits.  Interesting huh?  We have learned a lot about idols and how we should  not have idols that we worship.  Instead we should only love and worship God.  This morning we worked on masks and I thought that Hezekiah, Eli, and Magpie did a wonderful job.  We had a lot of fun painting, gluing, cutting paper, and taping on leaves. 

I like the pictures of my little family, especially when Page is in them with the kids.  He really is an awesome Daddy and well a wonderful husband!  I am super thankful for the times we get to spend together as a family.  I am often reminded that these days with these "little" ones go by way too fast to not drink them up!

In the blink of an eye your 4 year old will soon be turning 5.  And just like that 5 years have just been like a drop in the bucket.  There is never the chance to redo a day so it's best to enjoy and take advantage of each moment.  Because really your never going to get those moments back.  I do not want any regrets.  I think that is one reason why I have chosen to home school Hezekiah this year.  I honestly do not want to miss out on my time with him, with Eli, or Maggie Beth.  Oh, it gives me tears.  I know I am a total sap!

It is just precious to see them hold each others hands, lie on the floor during church and give kisses, embrace a splash pad with utter joy that makes you give thanks to your Heavenly Father.....because you have witnessed pure excitement, joy, wonder. 

I just want to remember the days and never forget.  That is why I blog......to remember.

Eli's favorite area of Sea World is the underwater viewing area of the dolphins.  He wants to stay there forever.  A couple times ago when we went to Sea World he got a stuffed dolphin that he calls Whaley.  He is so funny.  Today at the Arctic Adventure where the polar bear is he said, "I think that polar bear sleeps every day of the year except the last day and then he wakes up and eats!"  We also were at the beluga whale exhibit and they had been put back in a holding area while a diver was in the water and then they were released and Eli said, "I think those beluga whales were taking a snack break."  He is too funny.  He makes me laugh so much.

We touched the sting rays and watched them swim by.  Hezekiah learned about their frontal lobes that they use to help them detect food.  The sting rays splashed us a bit too.

We had a great time at the splash pad today!  The boys also rode their favorite Shamu Express roller coaster.

You know what is super nice about home schooling?  Being able to go to Sea World on a Friday for a little field trip and fun!  We learned a couple things too!

Here are the kids posing in front of the space needle.  Oh, I just could eat them up! 

We saw Elmo from far away.  At first all kids were so excited, but once we got closer Hezekiah was the only brave soul to get his picture taken with Elmo.  Maggie to say the least was terrified and the kid loves Elmo.  Eli stayed his distance. 

Today we went to Sea World.  It sure was hot out today but since we have been visiting the skate park I think our bodies are use to sweating these days.  We went up in the Space Needle.  Our first!  It was pretty cool.  The kids liked pointing out the animals and roller coasters.

On Diego there is a Macaroni Penguin and they call it Makie the Macaroni penguin.....but we say Maggie the Macaroni penguin.  So cute that Magpie is.

We saw the whale and dolphin show and the Pets Ahoy show.  Eli laughed and laughed at the Pets Ahoy show and Maggie clapped her hands for every trick the animals did.  They were so adorable.  It really makes me enjoy the shows even more because of their cute spontaneous reactions. 

Oh my Maggie Beth.  She is too funny these days.  Everything is pretty much 2 minutes.  We will be out swimming in the pool and I will say, "Maggie it is almost time to go inside."  She will turn look at me put her pointer finger up in the air and say, "Mommy, hmmmm 2 minutes."  Meaning of course she wants more time. 

When I put her to bed at night after singing to her she will say, "Hmmmm Daddy more kisses, 2 minutes!"  Meaning she wants daddy to come in and give her more kisses, that he should be there in 2 minutes.  It cracks me up.  I really love how she just catches on to everything.  We have been doing a memory verse for school at home and we have been working on Psalm 1:1 and Psalm 1:2 this week.  We recite the verse at breakfast and do hand motions to help us remember and she says the key words and does the motions.  It is really amazing.  I thank God that He can put these words in their hearts at such a young age.  Pretty awesome!

Today was Eli's first day back to preschool.  Different class....he's in the 4's this year.  He misses Kindergarten by 9 days.  He was excited.  This is him walking with me to school. 

Waiting outside for the doors to open!!!

Walking down the hall with Mommy!  I really enjoy walking my kids to class and giving kisses for a good day.

Eli goes to preschool three days a week from 9-12.  There are 5 other kids in his class this year.  A very nice class size and Eli has Hezekiah's teacher from 2 years ago!

Here is Eli checking out the room to see what is available to conquer first.

He finds bubble wrap! 

The bubble rap seemed quite intriguing.  He had a great first day back.  He had lots of smiles and a Hershey kiss from his teacher. 

So today we were looking a mouth types in our science investigations and how each mouth is perfectly designed to feed on specific types of foods.  Take for example birds and their beaks.  The variety of shapes and sizes for specialized feeding.  Short and stocky beaks for seeds, the huge bill of the toucan for fruits, the long thin bills to probe for nectar in flowers.  I found this fun activity to use different tools as our beaks: clothes pins, tweezers, spoons.  We used marbles as snails, paper clips as seeds, popsicle sticks as fish, and pipe cleaners as worms.  The kids had to pick a beak and see what they could eat with their "beak" while it was daytime (lights on).  When it was dark though the birds had to go to sleep and then we charted how many of each food type they caught with their beak.  They used a cup to put their food in for a stomach.  I found this idea off the internet.  It was a rather cute idea that went along with Hezekiah's science lesson today.  

Here is the site: http://cases.soe.umich.edu/plans.php?nav=showplan&dqid=120&lpid=95