Merry Christmas 2017

Well, it's been another year and another opportunity to wish our friends Merry Christmas.  We've had a busy 2017 with lots of travel.  We did a few mini trips to British Columbia and Vancover, WA as well as big trips to Edmonton, Maine, and Utah.  We feel blessed to have spent so much time with family.

Jerry has been busy and challenged at the Stretch Island Fruit plant.  Je jas also had a lot of opportunities to visit Kashi headquarters in the San Diego area.

Michelle is busy with the kids and getting settled in their newly purchased home.  She loves having the space of a home and a yard.

Joshua started preschool this year and loves it.  He is still obsessed with cars and trains, but has also discovered the joys of puzzles and board games.
 
Henry continues to be sweet and cuddly.  He has recently started walking and babbles all day long.  He, too, loves cars and trains.  Additionally, he loves emptying the cabinets, flirting, and making messes.  He hates sleep.

We hope this letter finds you all well and happy.  We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2018.

Sweet and Small

You sat on my lap 

And cooed me a promise

To always stay little and sweet.

You give me slobbery kisses,

Nap snuggled on my lap,

And burrow your head into my shoulder.  

But today is the first time

You will break the promise 

You never intended to keep.

I will rejoice and sorrow 

As you gingerly discover frosting

And grin while family celebrates.

Next you will stand and toddle away from me,

Throw tantrums, sing the alphabet,

Steal toys from your brother and ride a bike.

Time will betray me over and over.

You will ramble endlessly about Harry Potter,

Spider-Man, Legos, and knock-knock jokes.

I will watch you with gladness and grief

Knowing that no bribe can keep you

From growing, learning and achieving. 

Leaving me overflowing with sorrowful joy.

*This is a roughly written poem composed on my IPhone while Henry napped on me.  

Hand Prints

Lately, Family Home Evening has been very basic.  We mostly have read stories from The Friend Magazine.  But Joshua has been asking to make hand prints so I turned it into FHE.  It took about 30  seconds to prepare.

We read Psalm 82:6 and talked about how God gave us our bodies.  Then we made pictures to remind us that we are children of God.

Joshua wanted orange fingerpaint so we even added a little science lesson into it.  (Red and yellow make orange)

One set of hand prints was not enough for Joshua so we let him go crazy.  Then we ate ice cream and gave him a thorough bath. 

Book Love 2017

"Peter," she whispered, "turn around very, very slowly."

The boy turned in his chair.  He couldn't believe his eyes.  Lying on the piano was a lion, staring at Peter and licking his lips.  

Every year on Valentine's Day, I like to share a book that I absolutely adore.  This year, it is Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg.

In elementary school, I was the type of kid that always got my work done quickly.  This gave me a lot of time to explore my teachers' classroom libraries.  In third grade, I would almost always choose this book to read.  I loved the idea of a horrific board game that comes to life.  I would sometimes read every word of the book, but mostly I poured over the illustrations. 

Van Allsburg is one of my favorite illustrators because he takes fantasy and turns int into the most lifelike images I ever ever seen.  I love every detail.  The cobra has the same pattern as the arm chairs.  The lions hip bones poke out as he hunts for the children under the bed.  The lamp cord wraps around the rhinoceros's snout. 

Santa was good to me this year and got it for me.  It is difficult to find an available copy of this book at the library.  My at home library is one book closer to completion. 

Brotherly Love

This week we had our first round of "I can mess with my brother, but you cannot!" If Henry has a toy and especially if it is one of Joshua's toys,  Joshua needs it at that moment.  The other day Henry was playing with one blue block and one yellow block of which there are many.  For some reason, only those blocks would do, despite the fact that Joshua was playing with trains.

Two days ago, we were at the church so I could exercise with a group of women.  I was doing my best to get any sort of workout with a screaming fifteen pound weight attached to me.  A little girl took one of Henry's toys from the floor.  He was too busy being my screaming fifteen pound weight to notice.  But Joshua noticed and could not fathom that someone else take Henry's toy.  He was very concerned.  Meltdowns are rare in this household, but Joshua melted down, screamed sobbed.  He could not face that injustice that someone would take Henry's toy. 

Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport, Illustrated by Bryan Collier

He said "together"

when others said "separate."

He said "peace"

when others said "war."  

If you visit the children's biography section of a public library, you will likely find many - dozens even - biographies about Martin Luther King.  Many are okay, some are great, but Martin's Big Words is my favorite.  During my Christmas posts, I mentioned that I enjoy nonfitction picture books and this one truly stands out.

This is a fast-paced, simplistic telling of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life.  There is no way to detail the nuances and details of his life in 32 pages.  But what stands out to me is he importance of the themes in his life - fight for equality with words not fists.  Love will change the world, not war. 

And the illustrations?  Well, Bryan Collier expertly bases many of them off photographs from Martin Luther Kings life.  I also love how many of the images have stained glass in them making the book feel a bit religious.  I highly recommend this book especially if you are introducing King's life to younger audiences.  Judging by the medals on the cover a lot of other librarians agree with me. 

Time For Addison

I used to find it very difficult to think of ideas for Family Home Evening for a toddler.  I have pushed through that and now I think it is lots of fun.  But I have complained with lots of parents that it is hard to find ideas.  I decided it might be fun to share a bit of what we do. 

A couple things to note:

• I usually get my ideas from other places and then tweak them.  I will be sure to link to all my sources.
• Lessons last about 2-5 minutes.  Therefore, I refuse to prep for more than 10 minutes.  These are not examples of cuteness perfection.
• I always try to include a scripture that we look up in physical scriptures.
• My child is a very kinesthetic learner so my lessons reflect that.

 Tonight's lesson is going to be the story "Time for Addison," from the January 2017 Friend Magazine.  First, we look up the scripture, John 13:34.  Then we read the story, but to keep Joshua focused, he will act out building the tower, then playing with figures, and then the cards. 

Attached to the story is a "Choose The Right Card" One of the challenges to to show love for your family every day in a week.  I threw together a little chart with hearts so when we do something that shows love every day, he can add a heart.  I have a few ideas in mind of what we might do - art projects, little chores, playing with Henry etc.  I have found that little things like this help keep the lesson with him.

And that's it.  Super easy!  Joshua loves the time we spend together and I like finding creative things to do.

Firefighter Daddy

As a new safety protocol, Jerry is required to wear a safety jacket at all times at work.  To make things easier, he wears it to and from work as well.  Every evening when Jerry comes home, JOshua says, "Daddy Firefighter?"

He is convinced that Jerry has a career putting out literal fires.  Not the figurative fires of an HR manager.  That may be a little too complex/boring for Joshua to grasp at this point in his life.