What Do You Do.....

When your 4 year old wants pink and blue hair?


You go to Toys-R-Us and get the "Totally Me"
color sticks.

Goes on like lipstick. Washes right out.

Everybody 's happy!

I would have LOVED this at her age!


Peace.

Home Education and Art

Today,during art class, we learned that one man's graffiti
is another man's art ....


And Visa- Versa.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.


Ben told me that he wrote this because no-one would
let him paint on them! He wanted to paint the other children's
arms and they just kept telling him NO!

Hmmm...Go Figure?! :) We still can't figure out how he did
it upside down and backwards.


Crayola side-walk paints, chalks and some large paint brushes!

Worth Every Penny!


Mixing colors! Needed green . Only had blue and yellow!

Problem solving...Gotta love that!



Hours of fun!

Fresh Air!

Freedom of expression!

Bunch of kids proud of their artwork!


Class Dismissed!

Peace.

The Transformative Power of Self-Care

Self -care is about nurturing yourself on
all levels- physically, mentally, emotionally,
and Spiritually- so that you can live, love,
and parent optimally.

It is no secret to anyone, that we, as mothers
neglect ourselves on a daily basis.

The same love, gentle care and compassion we offer so
generously to our little ones should be extended to ourselves
as well.

We teach our children about self-worth and honoring
one's value through our actions, not our words.

Modeling self-love and self-acceptance is the most effective
way to have a powerful impact on a child's self-esteem
and how they view themselves.

Below are several examples of how you can begin
nurturing yourself and start making self-renewal
part of your everyday life.

1. Be kind to your body. Eat well. Sleep well.
Exercise as a stress manager. Drink plenty of water.

2. Have friends. Love them, share with them, encourage them,
support them and pray with them.

3. Take time to be by yourself- to think or write.

4. Pray , meditate on scripture and reflect on what
you are grateful for.

5. Challenge yourself to learn something new.

Self-care is not about pampering. It is about self-worth and
honoring the person you are.

Nurturing ourselves makes us naturally feel more loving,
which makes us better partners, parents, friends and
more fun to be around!

---From the Book " The Mother's Guide to Self Renewal"
Renee' Peterson Trudeau


Peace.

My 71 Year Old "ANGEL"

Yesterday, at lunch ,I was on my way uptown.

In a hurry, as usual- a list of "to-dos"
a mile long.

I do not live in a large town, but the lunch time
traffic is crazy here.

I came to a busy intersection and I noticed a
man crossing the street.

He looked to be about 70-75, and he was moving
slowly and looked confused.

I held my breath and watched him. I was sure that he was
going to walk in front of a car , or something.

His clothes were perfectly pressed, he had on his watch,
glasses and his hair was neatly combed.

He actually looked like he was going to church.

The light turned and out of the blue-- I hit my brakes and ask him where
he was headed.
"North Hills Street", he said, as he was getting into my truck!

O.K.?

Well -we were on North Hills Street, so at that point I
was convinced that he had wondered away from one
of the nursing homes, and I was sure that someone would
be looking for him.
So, I asked him where he"lived".

"Behind the new Winn Dixie on Hwy 19", he said.
That was 10 miles away!

"How did you get here?", I asked.


"Well", he said,"My wife is in Beverly Nursing Home.
I came to visit her, and now I am going home. I was in a car accident in '65.
I lost my vision in one eye and some of my speech. I had a stroke and
lost use of this arm, Now I can't drive."

"Sweety, Hwy 19 is ten miles from here. You would still be walking
when the sun went down.", I said.

"Oh, I wasn't worried about it,"he said,"My wife and I prayed that
someone would stop and take me home- before I left her-
And here you are."

"Here I am!", I said.

Then we talked a while. I found out that he was actually the great
uncle of a friend of ours. He said that it was hard for him to
talk with people, most could not understand him.
I understood everything he said. That really surprised him.

But then again, I can understand my 2 year old
when no-one else can- so there you go..

Got to his house, he hoped out of the car, thanked me,
and said he was going inside to call his wife so
that she would know he got home O.K.

Wow!

God answered the prayer of a man and a woman- Just like that!

And I got to be part of it!

Suddenly, I wasn't in such a hurry.

God changing my plans for me.

Telling me to slow down and do the things HE needs me to do.

HE will work the rest out.

Made me wonder how many Blessings I have missed
because I had "things to do" and I REFUSED to "hit the brakes".

Cool Stuff.

Peace.

More Zoo Pics.....

Cold, but having fun!



Rachel- Kate!



Layton and Mary Elizabeth



Ben and Riley



Mary and "Piggy". It's actually a goat!



Love The Petting Zoo!



Riley and her llama.



Ben on the carousel.



Rachel the Lion!



Mary the Lion!



Ben the Lion!



Riley- Cat.



Hannah loves a carousel!

I hope she NEVER thinks she's too big to ride.


Peace.

The World According to Mr. Rogers

The purpose of life is to listen- to yourself, to your neighbor,

to your world and to God, and when the time comes, to

respond in as helpful a way as you can find......

from within and without.

- Fred Rogers
The World According to Mr. Rogers


Found this in one of my favorite books.

Yeah! I love Mr. Rogers.

We buy the kids Mr. Rogers videos and I sing every song.

Its amazing what you can remember.

He taught me to spell "friend".

"You are my friend you see..F-R-I-E-N-D"

Never missed it on a spelling test.

I wanted to live next door to him.

I thought it would be cool.

I could not WAIT for the Land of Make Believe.

Every child had a character that he or she could relate to.

My favorite character was Cornelius Especially.

He had the Rocking Chair factory .

He was kind of quirky, but good-hearted.

Lady Elaine Fairchild freaked me out, but I could not take my eyes off of her.

I thought it would be fun to live in that Museum -Go-Round and throw that Boomerang-Toomerang-Zoomerang.

I used to BEG my parents to buy me a Trolley and a track for our kitchen,

and I thought we were getting jipped because our mailman wasn't perky like

Mr. McFreely - He just stuck our mail in the box and drove off!

Nothing on T.V. has ever or will ever compare.


Ya gotta love Fred.

Peace.

To The Zoo In The Snow

We took the kids to Birmingham.



Got a room with plenty of beds. You see what they do!



We woke up the next morning, looked outside, SNOW on the ground!



We were prepared!


The snow melted and it warmed up.

By noon, it was great. We basically had the zoo to ourselves,
which was cool.

A llama tried to kiss Riley-Cat in the mouth! Fun Stuff!

We had a good day.

I have more pics, but I had to take them with
a disposable .

My Canon's battery went dead! I left the charger at home!

Oh, well. I'll post them later.

Peace.