Each week in our K-4 curriculum, there is a new song to learn. It either has to do with the letter of the week or our physical movement skill. This week Philip was to learn how to skip (which he did and I found to be harder to explain than I thought). Therefore the song selection was "Skip to My Lou". For about six weeks now, we've been going to YouTube, searching for the week's song, and enjoying a wide variety of interpretations. I should have been posting my favorites all along because I've been laughing out loud watching at least one of them each week.
Finally thought of the idea of sharing the joy. Here's my favorite YouTube video for "Skip to My Lou"!!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Christmas Encounter
Here's the cast photo from our church Christmas program. We had a lot of fun but it was a lot of hard work too. Kind of made up for not being in the high school musical back in the day. Plus this time I got to sing about Jesus!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
More 25 Days of Christmas
And here we go with the rest of week 2...
December 8
Today's school craft called for decorating angels on paper plates. The kids enjoyed "painting" the angels with glitter glue. Very festive!
Philip also decided that our Little People nativity set should be placed under our tree.
That evening Matthew and I hit four stores in four hours and our Christmas shopping is complete. It was great as there were NO lines in any store probably due to it being a very cold, rainy night. Hey, we had a great time together and I am SO EXCITED for Christmas morning!
December 9
We spent a few hours outside this morning. It was miserably cold but the kids played in the driveway with ride-on toys and I hung Christmas lights on the front porch roof. Braewyn decided our Christmas reindeer could be a ride-on toy for Baby Green (yeah, I'm not really creative with the baby names). I put the lights on as I had on the other house porch and they just didn't look quite right. Quite off centered and not quite done.
Later in the day Philip began coloring his Poptarts box gingerbread house. I found the gingerbread flavored Poptarts to be my new favorite flavor. Probably should go buy a few more boxes before they are discontinued with the end of the holiday season. I finished the day with our final choir practice for "Christmas Encounter". We ran through it twice and everyone felt fairly comfortable.
December 10
Thursday night, we watched "Prep & Landing" together as a family. It was on Tuesday night so we taped it as that was our shopping night. Good thing too because we love it. I was skeptical as the commercials announced it as Disney's newest holiday special meaning to me, all commercialism and nothing traditional. Well, it was strictly Santa and no baby Jesus, but it was a spy movie for kids! The little elves arrive at the house before Santa and scope it out before hand. Very cute references to "The Night Before Christmas" story and teaches a great lesson: hard work is more important than notoriety.
December 11
I decided to venture back outside and rework the Christmas lights. Now they hang uniformly around the doorway of the porch and to either side. Not too flashy but very nice. Philip finished his Poptarts gingerbread house which is also very nice! At lunchtime, we watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" which was a great way to finish our school week. This week's story had been Luke 2:8-20, the passage Linus recites in the show to remind Charlie what Christmas is really about. Thank you, Linus! And next we watched "Prep & Landing" again.
December 12
Tonight was the first presentation of our church choir's program, "Christmas Encounter". It seemed to go very well although I'm so glad to have the chance to do it again tomorrow -- twice! Tonight I had a bad case of stagefright prior to walking into the sanctuary. The first song was pretty much garbled up but I eased into my pretend mall browsing after that. The last few songs were very worshipful and I pray anyone in the building who didn't know Jesus personally felt His love at that moment. We returned home tonight to watch "Prep & Landing" for a third time! Good night.
Monday, December 07, 2009
25 Days of Christmas
My friend Jessie mentioned in her blog about keeping a running list of her family's Christmas activities this month. I felt a little healthy competition rising up in me to see if I could keep up (and maybe I'll encourage you, Jessie, to keep going with yours too!). Well, here goes...
December 1
I attended MOPS in the morning. Our speaker discussed many fun ideas to do with your family during the Christmas season. She handed out a special menu to accompany "The Twelve Days of Christmas" song. I might try it. We also attended the Dickens Christmas festival in our town. I was very much looking forward to it, but likewise it didn't seem to keep our family's attention. We did stay from 6:15pm until 8:10pm outside in the cold because I was determined to stay for the tree lighting. The kids weren't that thrilled but were overall good sports. We ducked into a dance attire store where Philip and Braewyn each snagged a free cookie while I daydreamed about the day Braewyn might take dance lessons and wear the cute outfits. I did get a Christmas card photo which I'll post here after sending my cards out (got to keep my card recipients in suspense!).
December 2
This week's Bible story in Philip's school curriculum was Matthew 2:2-10, the arrival of the wisemen to worship baby Jesus. We discussed how far they had walked (a few years time) and how we're so glad we don't have to walk to church or the store (probably less than 5 miles which may have been a daily task in Jesus' day). That evening I attended choir practice which lasted from 6:00-8:00pm. Our Christmas program is this coming weekend (Dec. 12 @ 6:00pm, Dec. 13 @ 9:00am and 11:00am!! You should come if you live in town or want to visit.) so we're getting all the last minute kinks out.
December 3
I'm drawing a blank as to what we did Christmas-related on Thursday. Matthew and I attended a Gideon dinner while the kids did watch a Christmas movie with Nana and Papa. Maybe that counts.
December 4
Philip and I got all the Christmas decoration boxes down from the attic. When Braewyn woke up from her nap, I decided to make Christmas cookies with them. We had a great time but I'm sure that hosting a children's cooking class is not one of my spiritual gifts. We were moments away from covering the entire kitchen in flour but things turned out for the best.
That evening we bought our Christmas tree which is beautiful but looks small to me. Our last house had a vaulted ceiling so we could buy an 8 foot tree. This one is about 6 1/2 feet. Still beautiful and casts cool shadows on the wall from the LED lights on it.
December 5
I snuck away to the mall by myself! The mall commotion really doesn't bother me and especially not if I'm by myself going my own pace. I bought new glasses as my prescription has changed (for the better!) and picked up a few surprises for a few of the people in my house. Can't wait until Christmas morning... I know what Santa's bringing one special little girl! That evening we decorated the tree. I forgot that you have to teach someone how to put ornaments on the branches. Braewyn really didn't get it and so was happy just passing them to me to put on. I tried several times to have her do it, but she wasn't interested.
December 6
Last night we attended our church's children's Christmas program. It was very cute, but I had one child who sat and watched attentively and one child who pranced around in the aisle and crawled under the pews. Any takers on which was which? :)
December 7
Today in our school lessons, Philip and I read Luke 2:8-20, the story of the angels appearing to the shepherds. His memory verse for December is "Glory to God in the highest," Luke 2:14, so it was nice to read the surrounding passage. Tonight I again attended choir practice from 6:20-8:20pm. I think we're getting a little closer to being ready for "opening night". No matter what happens, I pray God is glorified!!
December 1
I attended MOPS in the morning. Our speaker discussed many fun ideas to do with your family during the Christmas season. She handed out a special menu to accompany "The Twelve Days of Christmas" song. I might try it. We also attended the Dickens Christmas festival in our town. I was very much looking forward to it, but likewise it didn't seem to keep our family's attention. We did stay from 6:15pm until 8:10pm outside in the cold because I was determined to stay for the tree lighting. The kids weren't that thrilled but were overall good sports. We ducked into a dance attire store where Philip and Braewyn each snagged a free cookie while I daydreamed about the day Braewyn might take dance lessons and wear the cute outfits. I did get a Christmas card photo which I'll post here after sending my cards out (got to keep my card recipients in suspense!).
December 2
This week's Bible story in Philip's school curriculum was Matthew 2:2-10, the arrival of the wisemen to worship baby Jesus. We discussed how far they had walked (a few years time) and how we're so glad we don't have to walk to church or the store (probably less than 5 miles which may have been a daily task in Jesus' day). That evening I attended choir practice which lasted from 6:00-8:00pm. Our Christmas program is this coming weekend (Dec. 12 @ 6:00pm, Dec. 13 @ 9:00am and 11:00am!! You should come if you live in town or want to visit.) so we're getting all the last minute kinks out.
December 3
I'm drawing a blank as to what we did Christmas-related on Thursday. Matthew and I attended a Gideon dinner while the kids did watch a Christmas movie with Nana and Papa. Maybe that counts.
December 4
Philip and I got all the Christmas decoration boxes down from the attic. When Braewyn woke up from her nap, I decided to make Christmas cookies with them. We had a great time but I'm sure that hosting a children's cooking class is not one of my spiritual gifts. We were moments away from covering the entire kitchen in flour but things turned out for the best.
That evening we bought our Christmas tree which is beautiful but looks small to me. Our last house had a vaulted ceiling so we could buy an 8 foot tree. This one is about 6 1/2 feet. Still beautiful and casts cool shadows on the wall from the LED lights on it.
December 5
I snuck away to the mall by myself! The mall commotion really doesn't bother me and especially not if I'm by myself going my own pace. I bought new glasses as my prescription has changed (for the better!) and picked up a few surprises for a few of the people in my house. Can't wait until Christmas morning... I know what Santa's bringing one special little girl! That evening we decorated the tree. I forgot that you have to teach someone how to put ornaments on the branches. Braewyn really didn't get it and so was happy just passing them to me to put on. I tried several times to have her do it, but she wasn't interested.
December 6
Last night we attended our church's children's Christmas program. It was very cute, but I had one child who sat and watched attentively and one child who pranced around in the aisle and crawled under the pews. Any takers on which was which? :)
December 7
Today in our school lessons, Philip and I read Luke 2:8-20, the story of the angels appearing to the shepherds. His memory verse for December is "Glory to God in the highest," Luke 2:14, so it was nice to read the surrounding passage. Tonight I again attended choir practice from 6:20-8:20pm. I think we're getting a little closer to being ready for "opening night". No matter what happens, I pray God is glorified!!
Sunday, December 06, 2009
More Pics
Here's the recap of our awesome day at the State Fair. It's our second year running and this year was a tad more fun since Braewyn could really enjoy things also this time. Thank you again, Elise and Arden, for letting us "crash" your big family day at the fair. It worked out to be a cool field trip as we had just finished our "F" week in school. "F" is for Fair!!!
Our first Thanksgiving in our new house was likewise a wonderful day. Why not christen a house by inviting 15 people over for your first gathering? They were all beloved family members who love us just the same and plus it gave me a little fuel to get the house in order. Everyone brought an item to add to the menu, Matthew fried the turkey to a yummy crispiness, and the Foards (Matthew's great aunt's family) brought their cornhole set which provided great outside activity. So much fun in fact that Matthew's currently building one for us in the garage! Yeah, maybe I'll actually improve my cornhole skills.
Our first Thanksgiving in our new house was likewise a wonderful day. Why not christen a house by inviting 15 people over for your first gathering? They were all beloved family members who love us just the same and plus it gave me a little fuel to get the house in order. Everyone brought an item to add to the menu, Matthew fried the turkey to a yummy crispiness, and the Foards (Matthew's great aunt's family) brought their cornhole set which provided great outside activity. So much fun in fact that Matthew's currently building one for us in the garage! Yeah, maybe I'll actually improve my cornhole skills.
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