Trunk or Treat

We had our Trunk or Treat last week and I have yet to post pictures.  I love getting requests for this here blog so you have any please speak up...or if you read this at all you can speak up.  Lucky for you I really don't mind blogging to myself, hee-hee!  But Christina this is for you!

Miranda was a Candy Corn Witch, Haylie was a Butterfly Fairy Witch, Hannah was a Ladybug Witch and Lauren was...Tinkerbell?

 As you can see I had the dress idea in my mind and we went and bought fabric.  They chose their colors and after I was all done sewing they told me what they wanted to be.  I think Lauren said Mini Mouse.  So close?  Anyways the girls all loved their dresses and I had a blast making them.  While I didn't use a pattern I did use dresses that fit them to make a usable pattern.  All this for less than $30!

 Jackson was the most adorable Yoda.  Ideally he would have been strapped to Luke's (Logan) back but I ran out of time to create such a device.

 So we made do, here is Logan as Luke Skywalker from Degobah.  A stuffed Yoda is in his backpack.

 Please ignore me stuffing my face in the background.  If it makes it any better is was just a green salad and a roll.

And the full Candy corn witch, it was my favorite dress of the four...shockingly it was my last, so each dress improved.  And making a special guest appearance was Hunter my nephew...I mean Buzz Lightyear.  It was a fun night!

Slave Driver

For some reason the kids will not do chores but will randomly offer to do something.  I think the key to getting kids to do chores is to make it a privilege.  Needless to say my kids don't fall for that line very often.  So today when Hannah asked if she could do dishes I hesitated for about 1/millionth of a second and said sure, just the dishwasher stuff.  When I looked over at her I saw the cutest thing.  She had one glove on and was scrubbing away, Lauren just finished stirring up the clogged sink and Jackson was sucking on the "stirring" spoon.  As I vomited a little bit in my mouth, I quickly remove the two trouble makers then ran to get the camera.  It was way cute.

 

You can see the sink is kind of full.  Seriously the one glove thing cracks me up! She scrubbed and rinsed like a pro!

 

Although I know I have been gifted with genius children, I wanted to point out that the dishes were not perfect but I love the fact that she tried.

After the dishes were all clean I was talking to her and she said "Aren't you proud that I did the dishes all by myself?"  Why yes Hannah, I am very proud.  Proud enough to blog about it!  Here is her little exit interview!

An Interview with Hannah from April Jacobs on Vimeo.

Lonesome Dove

Every once in a while I will pay attention to the lyrics of a song, usually it is the music that catches my attention then I will start to pay attention.  Garth Brooks has a knack for story telling I would say.  One of my favorite songs in the car is In Lonesome Dove by Garth Brooks.

It starts out with a woman traveling in a wagon train that gets stranded.  A Texas lawman comes and rescues the wagon train and gets the train movin' she fell in love and stayed, in Lonesome Dove.  As a lawman he ended up dying after their first child was born.  This child grew up to be a lawman like his father.

This is the part that stood out to me and even brought out a little emotion:

Then one day word blew into town
It seemed the men that shot his father down
Had robbed a bank in Cherico
The only thing 'tween them and Mexico
Was Lonesome Dove

The shadows stretched across the land
As the shots rang out down the Rio Grande
And when the smoke had finally cleared the street
The man lay at the ranger's feet
But legend tells to this very day
That shots were comin' from an alleyway
Though no one knows who held the gun
There ain't no doubt if you ask someone
In Lonesome Dove 

The reason why I think it made me emotional was thinking about the love I have for my children.  While I don't even know how to shoot a gun (yes genius, I know you just pull the trigger! ; P).  You bet if it came to protecting my child I would do it.  While this woman had many reasons to hate this man, I can only imagine in her heart that she was not about to let this person ruin another precious life.

When it comes to raising our children today the world is down right scary.  It is so hard to let these precious children go out into the world where they have to learn, and I have to have faith that I am giving them the best foundation that I know how to give.  I have to watch at certain times as they are going to make choices that scare me to pieces.  Yet like this mother, I don't have to be right beside them I can try and protect them from a far.  In such a way that they aren't sure it was me, but they just know it was.  This is not to say I have that power on my own.  It would be through Heavenly Father answering the boat load of prayers I offer, pleading that I can be a good mom, that my children know how to choose right things, and most importantly they know without a doubt that I love them and I have their back any time it is needed.  How I love each and everyone of my kids and my husband as well.  I feel so fortunate to have so much love and laughter in my home.  If ever I received a blessing that mattered the most, this is it by far!

Kindergarten Sight words

We are starting to work on sight words in the girls kindergarten class.  I made some really easy flash cards but wanted something a little nicer looking.  So I made up some flash cards.  I totally could have made them super cute, but I didn't...I guess functional is better than pretty right?

So here are the flash cards:
Sight Word Flash Cards

I also wanted to make a game so it would be a "break" from school so I made a very simple bingo game using the Kindergarten sight words.
Sight Word Bingo

For bingo, I made the call words, so you just need to cut them up and put them in a baggy to store.