Friday, March 20, 2009

Welcome......

I'm asking for a prayer.

My friend A had her baby!!! She is a bit early, but all seems good. Her baby was born yesterday 5 pounds, 5.5 ounces, and 18 inches long. The labor and delivery went very well, and although baby is in the ICU, and they are hoping to bring him home in three or four weeks. As of this morning, they were even thinking of taking him off of the oxygen that he was put on yesterday.

Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Congrats A & E. Welcome baby E!!!!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

The House in the Meadow

My 5 year old loves the book The House in the Meadow (by Shutta Crum) and tonight, after I finished reading this book to him, he decided to read it to himself. We caught it on video and thought we would share it with you. (actual words are listed below). As you can tell, I use different voices while reading the book.



The House in the Meadow
Over in the meadow, it was springtime when.....
a bride and a groom and their best friends 10.
"And now...." said the couple. "A house!" said the 10.
So they planned though the year, and when spring came again.....

Over in the meadow, with a bucket big and fine,
shoveled Charlie with a backhoe and strong diggers 9.
"Dig!" said Charlie. "We dig," said the 9.
So they dug and dumped dirt with a bucket big and fine.

Over in the meadow, beside forms strong and straight,
Peter mixed concrete with his messy masons 8.
"Pour!" said Peter. "We pour," said the 8.
So they poured the concrete into forms strong and straight.

Over in the meadow, big carpenter Keven
sawed up the lumber with his ready team of 7.
"Build!" said Kevin. "We build," said the 7.
So they built sturdy walls with carpenter Kevin.

Over in the meadow, at the spot marked with sticks,
worked Cindy with a rig and muddy drillers 6.
"Drill!" said Cindy. "We drill," said the 6.
So they drilled down for water at the spot marked with sticks.

Over in the meadow, with shingles by the drive,
climbed Calvin to the roof with his good roofers 5.
"Hammer!" said Calvin. "We hammer," said the 5.
So the hammered on shingles that were stacked by the drive.

Over in the meadow, putting pipes through the floor,
Florence used her wrench and apprentices 4.
"Plumb!" said Florence. "We plumb," said the 4.
So they joined all the pipes going through the new floor.

Over in the meadow, testing lights carefully,
wired John the electrician and his trained crew of 3.
"Connected?" asked John. "Connected!" said the 3.
So they switched on the power in the house carefully.

Over in the meadow, in the last room to do,
Kellie rolled on paint with her new helpers 2.
"Use blue," said Kellie. "For the baby!" said the 2.
So they used blue paint in the last room to do.

Over in the meadow, to see if everything was done,
came the top town official with Inspector Number 1.
"Look!" said the husband. "I'll look," said the 1.
So he looked and he listed. Everything was done!

Over in the meadow, by the house, in the sun,
waved the wife and the husband and their new little one.
"Home!" said the couple. "You're home," said everyone.
Then they lived in the meadow, in their house that was done!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

And so.....it's almost summer

As I reflect on this past year, it's been great! I really mean it! Yes, I closed the daycare and moved with my family 2 1/2 hours away....but it has been good. Through all the chaos and excitement, my family has grown so much....and so have I.

It's hard to believe that N is already 8 months old. He is still working on cutting that first tooth, but keeps us all busy with his crawling, grabbing, slobbering, laughing, pulling himself up onto/with, and babble that makes having a baby so rewarding. He just brings so much joy! Z adores him still. They play ball together and Z likes to race around the room just to get N to laugh and chase after him. If Z could....he would be feeding N and being the parental figure.

Z is almost 6. He LOVES kindergarten. Hard to believe that this time last year, we were dealing with potty training issues. (He is doing so much better and only we await the final phase....waking up in the morning dry.) He is reading and writing! Yes READING AND WRITING!!! Yesterday, he made a birthday card for his dad and spelled Happy Birthday Dad the way he thought it should be......Hppe Birdy Ded. Yes, as soon as we sounded out the letters, he corrected it all....but it's so amazing to see! He does look at sounds and think certain letters should be in words that aren't and on occasion, argue with us to have them put in. If it was only our choice! =) He explores life asking questions, excited, and so full of joy....it's great! A few weeks ago, I took him to Playhouse Disney Live. He LOVED IT!!! So excited to see Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Handy Manny, and even Tigger. Twas great! (Still singing songs around the house). He is our helper and our big boy!

B still is teaching. He loves helping out at the college and teaching 2nd grade here in WF. He has a GREAT class. He turned the ripe age of 33 this weekend (catching up with me for the few months he does) and he seems blessed to be where he is at. I think he is really looking forward to some grilling time and I hope to utilize his talents more around the house on some projects. School will be out soon and we can look forward to that.

I am doing good. I LOVE working with the kids and LOVE seeing them each day. I'm so glad that I found a new direction to move my life. This fall, I hope to start taking some classes to get my endorsement to teach. Not sure how I will do that......but I'm leaning to special education. We'll see in a few weeks what the college will tell me.