G Speak

Apparently hospitals are more accurately termed "Doctor Cities" cause there are lots of doctors there.

Kinda hard to argue with that logic :)

C's Bird Report: The Toucan

C's first report of the year was due today...Bird Day (in honor of the end of the bird unit that they've been in :)

His assignment:  Research the toucan, write a report (a combination of fill in the blank and free writing/essay), and make a visual aid.  He presented his report in front of his class today.  Honestly, I didn't really enjoy research projects in school.  I love to read.  I don't mind writing, but I have never been good (or enjoyed) the "visual aid" part...shocker, I know :)  As long as I'm being honest, I may as well go ahead and admit that I wasn't overwhelmed with excitement when the Bird Report assignment sheet came home.  That, however, was NOT the case with C.  He really couldn't wait to get started!  We started with a trip to the library.  We gathered up a bunch of books about the toucan and started reading.   Speaking of reading...this kid can READ!  I helped with the World Book Encyclopedia and a few of the harder books, but he did quite a bit of reading on his own....GO C!

As we were checking out (the ones that  were check out-able), he said "Mommy, I LOVE researching things!"  What can I say, he is his father's son!

Later that week, he started in on his poster board.  Had it been me, I would have been cutting and pasting pictures of toucans like a mad-fool!  Not C, he wanted to draw and paint his own using a picture from the encyclopedia as his example. 

I was so, so proud of him!  He gave it a lot of thought and spent a lot of time on this.  

And I think his hard work really paid off! Unfortunately, I somehow failed to take a picture of the final product. UGH!  Hopefully, his teacher will send it back home.

To commemorate Bird Day, the kids were asked to bring in bird costumes and they "flew" all around the school (to include visits to the Head of School, Main Office, and Kindergarten classes).  Exciting stuff!

The converted party hat into a beak was ALL his idea...I was pretty impressed :)

On an unrelated note:  The power of advertising is pretty amazing.  Despite the fact that I haven't had a bowl of Fruit Loops in at least 15 years, I hear the word "toucan" and I think Toucan Sam. :)

What I Love About G: Heart of Service

I keep meaning to sit down and write a "What I Love About You" post for C and G. These wonderfully touching posts would be complete with insightful comments into their personalities, sweet stories to illustrate my points, and corresponding Bible verses that I intend to pray over them as they grow into the people that God created them to be.  Sounds great, right!?! 

Problem is I keep MEANING to do this, but I NEVER do.   I guess the perfectionist in me wants this to be perfect...perfect takes time...I don't have much of that...so the days pass and I do NOTHING.  Boo! 

My answer...for now...is just to write down things as they come to me. So here goes:

Yesterday after J and C left for school and work, G disappeared upstairs.  I was cleaning the [very messy] kitchen and lost track of time.  When I finished the kitchen and realized what time it was, I called upstairs to see what she was up to. It was quiet, and normally quiet = bad :)  She calls down "I'm cleaning C's room, Mommy.  I wanted to think about him." 

AWWW!  

And as it happens, I DO happen to have a relevant verse in mind...the ultimate and perfect example of service:

Matthew 20:28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve 

and to give his life as ransom for many. 

The Day G's Been Waiting For All Summer

The first day of PRESCHOOL!  

And not one bit nervous either! :)

I'm doing ok....it doesn't really help that the picture above reminds me SO MUCH of this picture (taken taken the day she learned to stand own her own...sniff, sniff :)