History Fair

My Kindergarten Class

Last night was our school's History Fair and Spring Concert. My parents were able to come up from Delaware to see their grandkids perform, which was so nice. I even got in on the act as we finished the evening with a song performed by the teachers. It was great to be singing in a group again, as I haven't done that in quite awhile!

The History Fair theme this year was toys and games. Students in grades 3-12 had to do individual projects, while the K4, K5, and 1-2 grades did a class project. For my K5 class, I chose to research the game, Barrel of Monkeys. It just seemed so apropos for the group I had this year! I did some online searching for info, and then the children helped me develop a Venn diagram comparing the "old" version of the game with the "new" version of the game. I was even able to find a 1966, new in package, version of the game on Ebay for a great price! The children enjoyed comparing the two barrels of monkeys visually, as well. I also had each student take home a die cut monkey to decorate for our display. They did a fantastic job! I was really pleased with how it all turned out.

Benjamin's class (K4) did a little project on their favorite games. His teacher had the students bring in their favorite games, and then she took a picture of each of them with their game. Her display really turned out cute, too! Sabastian's project was on Silly Putty. We all learned a lot about that silly stuff! Did you know that it was created accidentally as a scientist was trying to make an alternative to rubber during WWII? Jonathan's project piggy-backed with his research paper this year. He did the game of Chess. He loves playing that game, and it was interesting to read up on the history and the innovations over the years. Sabastian's project won third place in his age group, and all the boys did a really nice job (after some motherly prodding and prompting!). Way to go, guys!

And the Beat Goes On...

Life has been moving forward at a frenetic pace in our household this month. It's been a busy month at school with our "Build...Defend...Read!" reading emphasis month initiative, which I have sort of spear-headed. It's been neat to see the students get excited about reading. But just the discipline of a daily task has caused the last couple of weeks to fly by for some reason. Last weekend I taught my grad class and this weekend I worked at the store. Three jobs has proven a bit much for the family, so I will be scaling back at the store at the end of the month. I will miss the friends I have made there, but I know I need to be at home with my family. The tendency is to fill the "free" evenings with other things, but I am learning that in this season of life, we need togetherness. And the beat goes on...

A Busy Time

It has been very busy since Thanksgiving at our house. I worked the midnight shift at The Children's Place on Black Friday...that was an experience! I've never even been out shopping at that hour on Black Friday, let alone working, but I survived. Since then, I've been busy with work, play group, Bible studies (and cooking and/or baking for both of them!), baking cookies and making candy, and running the never-ending errands with the kids. We have begun decorating our house, and as soon as my dear husband unloads my memory stick, I will show you some of our decor this year. Our tree is up but not yet decorated as I haven't been home long enough to supervise. Maybe tomorrow...hope your December has started off well and that you won't lose the true meaning of this joyous season amidst the hustle and bustle!

Another Busy Week!

Last week zoomed by with no posts...sorry! This week might likely do the same, although I do want to post about the Bible study I'm teaching this week, as I've learned a lot from preparing it. I'm teaching our two ladies' Bible studies at our church this week, one tonight for working women, and one on Wednesday morning for moms and other ladies who choose to come then. I'm teaching on the promise of God to guide and direct our lives. Look for more on that later!

I worked a lot this past weekend again, and my dear husband is nursing yet another cold, so hopefully the rest of us won't get it! Nathaniel is just getting over his second ear infection, which seem to be brought on by colds, so we don't want any more! I'm ready to spray down the whole house with bleach at this point! Tomorrow morning I'm hosting our play group at our house for the first time, so that ought to be interesting, too...another reason for no colds!

A busy week lies ahead for me, but I'm up for the challenge! Hope your week is fun and productive, whatever it has in store for you!

Working Weekend

I will be working my two jobs this weekend...teaching my grad course, and waiting on customers at The Children's Place. In this season of life, weekends have become my work days instead of the week days, so I can't complain. I'm thankful for the extra income, and for my wonderful husband who is so supportive of it all. For those of you with fun plans this weekend, enjoy...

New Job

Yesterday I completed my second weekend of work at my new part-time job at The Children's Place Outlet Store in Hershey, PA. When Dave was moved back to first shift, I prayed about the possibility of working part-time to help offset some of the boys' schooling expenses and our adoption expenses, and the Lord led me to The Children's Place through a church friend who also works there. I'm finding it to be harder than it looks, especially physically, since I'm on my feet for 4-8 hours at a time, depending on the shift; however, it is fun, and I'm meeting lots of interesting people. So far I have been working less than 15 hours a week, mostly on the weekends, but some weeknights. Of course I'm awfully tempted to use my paycheck at the store, since I love their clothes and get a 30% discount, but so far I've been good. I really watch for bargains (like the pair of jeans I scored for Sabastian for 69 cents!) but that's it. If I knew how big our little Sophia was going to be, I'd really be having fun...the girl's clothes are so cute and reasonably priced on our sales racks! If you ever find yourself in Hershey at the outlets, look me up!