SUPER CAPES!!!

I am STILL in AWE of one of our daycare mom's extreme thoughtfulness! I recall on a Friday little Kira asking Theo's mom for purple cape... embarrassed I did feel awful I don't do the NEEDLE AND THREAD thing! I knew Tin-Tin wouldn't just let her request go... I offered to grab the material but she of course put me off. Well to our total surprise she walked in with an AWESOME purple cape for Kira AND.... a cape for EACH CHILD with their first initial on it!!!!!

I WAS SO TOUCHED... there are people in our world that DO go the extra mile and truly expect nothing in return! We love you Tin-Tin! You wouldn't believe the things she can sew for her little one!

Part 1 of our ILLINOIS TRIP

Kira and I had a long weekend in Illinois to visit my mom and some friends from High School and College. Our flight Thursday night was canceled due to mechanical problems. I hardly could sleep Thursday night and got up by 2:30am for our 6am flight. Friday we had a special visit with the entire Bourne' Family and the Gabriel's stopped by for dinner. I have such fond memories of each family!! It's like no time has past when we were together.... that's how I know we're forever friends!

Liz B. was a roomie of mine at Olivet. She has a way of knowing right away what I need. She makes me think deeper and to try harder to endure life's challenges. Her Mom, Lisa, has raised up the most beautiful children who love the Lord and care so deeply about their fellow man in need. Their last year was so trying too, yet I couldn't get any of them to complain rather they talked of their desire to do more for others and how much they've grown through the trials. I needed to see them, to hear them... I love you all and wish we lived close! Thanks for your visit... you made my trip so special!

SO BLESSED!

These children are so fun to capture! We have a couple older kids coming for a visit soon... can't wait to see what works out. With my license I can have six children (2 can be under 2 yrs.) and additionally I can care for two more when school is not session. We have five full-time and Josh before and after school currently. Over the Spring and Summer we'll have help daily from our neighbor, Sara. We'll have lots of schooling, crafting, gardening, and outdoor fun! I have found some AWESOME books/themed lessons from the Windsor Library Sale and from Goodwill. We actually spent over an hour looking through the huge collection of kids books at the Goodwill off Harmony... Polly, Kira, and I laughed and chattered forever over the things we found and TO TOP IT OFF-- spent so little for SO MUCH!!

HOMES

Recently the kiddos here learned how to draw a house scene that they can build on/from. We have practiced their addresses over time. I suggest starting with the town name then the street and then the house number. Depending on the street name you can often use some consistent hand gesture ... like Fox Chase Lane... we swung our arms back and forth with each syllable/word. We have a large marker board we all practiced our house on shape by shape. Additionally we drew grass, a tree, a flower, and a street. Each of the kids practiced more on their own little boards then onto a sheet of paper.
They were SO proud of themselves! The next day we used pieces of foamies from the DOLLAR STORE and they glued their home scenes together.

Easter 2008

I slowly recovered from my stomach flu in time for a few Easter moments. Sunday School with the 2 year olds was lively as always then we got to attend the third service together. We ran to Walker for an Easter celebration in the factory cafeteria. We missed many of the cousins this year!
Kira got to ride on Cousin Kyle's skateboard and hasn't stopped talking about it! She was so pleased she got to play with her cousin Travis and had a blast! An EGG HUNT was set up by the Rattle family for Trav and Kira... it meant so much that they went to such lengths to make their day special! Later, Grandma and Grandpa Saunders stopped by with some more Easter surprises.

Kira is looking forward to more and more JESUS PARTIES... such fun and generosity seem to surround JESUS days! I shared the story of the Jesus' last days with her and she was so concerned about Jesus getting hurt and dying. Kira kept retelling me the the story. She is so thankful He "woke up" and was ALIVE again!! Jesus went up to Heaven where HE waits for her. If you ask her where Jesus is... she'll say in her heart and in Heaven. She names everyone she can think of... making sure they are going to be in Heaven with her and Jesus!

EASTER IS NEAR

We have been to Illinois and back and have much to post! I thought I'd start with a few photos from the last couple of days as we made some memories surrounding Easter. Thursday was my last day with most of the kiddos as many had Friday at home with their families. I was expecting a call back from my Inspector and the phone rang at about 3:15... thankful for her call she actually informed me she never got my message and was ACTUALLY in front of my house!!! WOW- we had a hugely busy last hour before I was taking the cat and dog to our vet to keep in line with the HEALTH DEPT. regulations!!! I SOOOO wish they would stick to MAY to visit!! We did just fine but have several papers to update as many forms were just to expire! I have a month to crank out my 20 credit hours though... my course just arrived in the mail-- Nurturing a child's SELF-ESTEEM:)

*Our egg dye kits were from the good old DOLLAR STORE and the kids love using several colors- they come out great if you place them and do NOT roll them to coat all sides... logical I KNOW! We drew on them at first with regular crayons to id who made each ideally. Our BUNNY EARS are made with foamies from the $ Store and are glued with tacky craft glue. They are a bit pliable and yet have a nice droop-- easily trimmed to ideal size. We did get in a couple of egg hunts-- one with coins and dollars and one with candy. The spare change and dollar bills were fun especially as they love to line up the matching coins, id them and count em up!
I also made up a cheesy song to the tune Fara Jaqua-- SP??? I put the words onto a cross I cut from SCRAPBOOK paper (much nicer as it ages than construction paper). HERE are the words: "WHERE IS JESUS- WHERE IS JESUS??? IN MY HEART- IN MY HEART... HE LOVES ME AND FORGIVES ME- LOVES ME AND FORGIVES ME.... I LOVE HIM- I LOVE HIM."

Sure hate to see the school system shifting away from having a little EASTER BREAK here! The kids have a four day weekend NEXT WEEK!! Stinky... hope parents and teachers speak up for next year.

I am LOVING our new little friend Theo and his dear parents. I can not say enough about how involved, appreciative, and respectful they are!! What a gift!!

HAPPY EASTER--- Jesus HAS RISEN!!!

Friends FOREVER

The other week my best friend since childhood came out to visit Colorado. I was in desperate need of some time with her and can't thank her enough for the visit. Meg arrived Wednesday night and left on Sunday to spend time with her sister Jenny in Colorado Springs. The parents at the Daycare were awesome to me and I was able to have Friday off to enjoy her visit even more: ) It has been an awfully challenging year and I was so glad for some time to rewind through time and get her input and encouragement.

Since childhood, I had always dreamed she and I would get to live close to each other and take little trips together. As we got older I remember telling her I'd set aside money here and there and save up for a cruise or something fun we could do together. WELL... I'm STARTING NOW--- knowing we may NEVER get to live near each other... AT THE LEAST-- we need a good "girls getaway!!! Knowing we both have some awesome friends in our lives maybe we could invite a whole group of gals to join us!!! She's due with baby #2 in September but maybe maybe we could shoot for a for a trip NEXT SPRING: )


Once I have some technical help from Bart I will add a couple more favorite photos from my camera's internal memory...

AS YOU CAN SEE-- Ella and Kira were much more cooperative with my photo taking... Meghan just barely TOLERATED me!!!!