December 31, 2009

December 16, 2009

Luke's Name Game

Awhile back I submitted an idea to a magazine,
well IT'S BEEN PUBLISHED!!!!!!  YEAH!!!!!

Luke's photo is in the new Parents magazine for January, 2010 (page 68).  When I showed him, he slapped his forehead and fell to the ground!


Here's what it reads,
"NAME GAME
To teach my son his ABCs, I took photos of him posing his body in the shape of each letter of the alphabet.  Next we enlarged the photos of the letters that spell out his name and made them into a fun sign to post on the door of his bedroom.
Betsy Myers; Monroe, Ohio"

How Fun!

December 11, 2009

Snap! The Job's a Game


UPDATES:

WE FOUND JESUS!
hee hee
As I described in an earlier post, we had a few missing pieces from our nativity sets.  Well now everyone's been found and are back in place!!! SO EXCITING!

Plus, we started the collection basket as I had described earlier - of items lying around the house out of place.  The first item in the basket?  LUKE'S MOUTHWASH!!!!  He LOVES his mouthwash!  In fact, when we first got him a bottle a couple months ago, he was SO excited that he used an entire bottle in ONE WEEK!!! YIKES!!! I guess I wasn't clear enough when I explained that he should do it only ONCE each day.  Well, he left his bottle and cap thrown aside on his sink a couple days ago and I snatched it right up to toss it into the basket.  Several other items have since been added- a pair of Lydia's shoes with some dolls stuffed inside and a card from our Memory game.
I DO still need a clever name for this collection basket. hmmm...
It may be strange, but it's actually FUN for me to glance around and devilishly look for items to grab.  I just hope the novelty doesn't wear off before the lesson is learned!

or better yet...

December 9, 2009

Not A Laughing Matter

Have you raised a son?
Are you raising a son?

Are you pregnant with a son? 
HELP ME!
I have reached my wit's end. 
Luke seems to have SO MUCH ENERGY & SO LITTLE TIME. I can't even wrap my mind around how much energy he's busting out second my second!  He doesn't WANT to be "bad", but regretfully I confess- this has proved to be quite a difficult stage for me as his mother! I'll get back to this topic...



The other day I was telling my sister about a parenting strategy I had read about.  It described a family that had a basket designated for collecting all items in the house that were out of place.  Anytime someone left something not "put away", it was tossed into this basket (NO EXCEPTIONS).   On Sunday, they returned the items in the basket and started it empty for the week.  Eventually I supposed the kids were less careless about where they left their toys, new shoes, or favorite coat.  I've given it more thought, and I think my kiddos are definitely not too young to put this practice into action.  We're starting TODAY.  I think I'll take it a step further and include my own junk in on this.  Although I try not to, I'm guilty too of leaving things tossed about.  I need to be a better model and walk my talk!!!! NO MORE CLUTTER!
Hmmm.... now to NAME this basket???

Okay, so overall... we need things to change around here.  I've raised my voice one too many times lately- a technique I find to be completely ineffective and worse... completely exhausting!  Today, I woke up with a fresh attitude and a new theme in mind for our household.  The plan is:

CALM - CLEAN - QUIET

I've already discussed this with Luke and all behaviors need to abide by these three rules.  These three words encompass all that's been wrong lately.  These words are going to be my prioritized expectations for the next couple weeks.
Now... if I can just come up with
strategies to deter missteps.

December 8, 2009

No More Emails About Updates

NOTICE: Betsy's Blog will no longer send out emails when her blog is updated.  Her intention is to continue to blog at least once a week (if not more).  Having said that though, sometimes there will be periods of inactivity- but if she ultimately decides to discontinue posting permanently, she will let you know.

SOOOOO, in order to read her new posts...
please check back regularly!!
You can click HERE to
see her blog and to BOOKMARK the address.

THANKS FOR READING!

December 6, 2009

Nativities and Twix

We have many nativity sets around our house.
Let me count... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, SIX!
Two have the figures that are all glued into their little places. The rest of them have moveable characters.

It's been fun for both Luke & Lydia to reposition them.

Sometimes I see Joseph leading a parade.
Or sometimes it looks like "duck, duck, goose"
with Mary caught in the middle.
Or sometimes it appears the three kings maybe misbehaved,
because they've been forced to stand behind the stable in shame.
Or occasionally a camel is in the manger.
I never know what I'm going to see day after day.

As fun as this sounds, it's hasn't quite been as neat as I had hoped. As of yesterday, lost somewhere in the 7+ rooms of our house are a poor Mary, a donkey, a lamb and dare I confess...

TWO BABY JESUS!!!!!
So HEARTBROKEN I've been to know that the "STAR" of the show is possibly gone for good from two scenes.
Okay, though the GREAT news NOW is that as I wiggled under my bedcovers tonight, I felt something strange by my toes.
It was JESUS!!!! Jesus... right here in MY bed!
WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED!?!?!!!!
He had been buried deep under the quilts. I'd like think that Lydia, with all the best intentions, tucked Him sweetly into bed with a little kiss. Maybe not though. It could be that she and Luke were tossing Him around trying to get our dog to fetch. Poor Jesus.

I'm super glad to have this one back though. Now we need to find the OTHER one and the rest of the crew.

Needless to say, I enjoy finding silly pictures to go with some of my posts.  I tried to google such a nonsense topic as "Missing Jesus".  Not much luck, EXCEPT the fact that I felt comfort that I must not be the only person with this dilemma!!  They even have a t-shirt to describe this very thing!  Must be a common problem for families!   funny


(t-shirt says, "I Found Jesus!  He was hiding behind the couch.")


Here's another quick story...
HOT OFF THE PRESS!!!
Seriously, it just happened this very second!  As I was finishing typing the above section of this post, I heard our pantry doors squeak closed.  Craig and exchanged abrupt glances, and down the steps I flew!
RED HANDED!!!
Luke busted into tears holding a miniature TWIX!  That stinker! He immediately started sobbing and through the tears I heard him say, "You Hate Me Now."  It took alot of strength for me to hold back laughter.  We discussed it and he headed to bed after I assured him that I'll NEVER hate him, NO MATTER WHAT!  I did threaten to lock him in his room at night though.   hee hee


* * * NEVER A DULL MOMENT * * *

December 2, 2009

too close to close

Nothing too exciting going on around here, except that we're making huge strides in teaching Luke to read!  Yes, that's right- my young man is blending 3 and 4 letter words!!
WOO WOO!!!!   (hmm....."oo"   that's a phonetic sound I need to still teach him.  Ugh, there are so many rules & exceptions to rules in our language!)

Anyway, he typically has a great attention span while we work through our lessons, but every once in awhile I have to get a little creative to bring him back in focus.  So the other day- just for kicks, I threw the word "BUTT" into his reading list.
Does that make me a bad mom?  I hope not!
It's a word we tend to shun around our household, but it sure got him giggling and did indeed get him interested (as he dreamed of all of the OTHER naughty words he might read someday!) YIKES

Needless to say or typeI'm SUPER proud of how things are going with him!  Lydia is also learning some new concepts, developing some fine motor skills and growing her vocabulary.  I'm blessed and excited to have two children so fascinated with academics!

Speaking of our difficult English language.
Here's an "oldie", but a "goodie" list:
The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
There's no time like the present, so it is time to present the present.
A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
I did not object to the object.
The bandage was wound around the wound.
The farm was used to produce produce.
The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
The buck does funny things when does are present.
The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
Upon seeing the tear in the painting, I shed a tear.
I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
They were too close to the door to close it.