Thanksgiving Craft: A Thankful Book

I am thankful for Pinterest. 😀

I am also thankful our three littles still love to do art projects and craft with materials on hand.

I am thankful for the sweet words they chose for their thankful pages in these precious books!

I am thankful for crafts that are keepers!

Though we can’t ever be too thankful, I will share a bit more about this little project that consumed some of our morning. I can’t take credit, so let me credit the original source and please click over there for detailed instructions and much better photos LOL!

I did make some adaptations, because I was out of rubber bands and hadn’t saved any environmental cardboard (great idea though!) for the colored feathers.

OK, aside from the fact no one should run out of rubber bands e.v.e.r., let’s focus on the positive. I’m instinctive and immediately went for the loom bands for a *temporary* fix until the Prez comes home tonight with the appropriate rubber bands.

I also pulled out our scraps from previous projects for the colored feathers, and they went to work making them out of torn paper, torn tissue paper, cut-up pieces of felt, cut-up cardboard and parts of a pop-tart box that was discarded in the recycling trash can yesterday.

As I noted above, please go to B-inspired Mama for detailed step-by-step instructions.

This craftiness was perfect to me because:

it requires writing and/or narrating (for little ones you could write it for them as they narrate their story)
it encourages thinking creatively as the story is written/narrated
it encourages illustrations from various mediums (markers were their preferred choice but colored pencils also work and paint would as well)
it serves a purpose other than just another craft (that could potentially end up in the round file tomorrow—this one definitely won’t!)
it required the use of scissors, glue sticks AND liquid glue
my kids ages 9, 9 and 4 all LOVED this project which is really my ultimate goal.

So what are you thankful for today? PLEASE share in the comments! I love to hear from you!

Adoption in Hindsight

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November is National Adoption Month, and around the web you may have seen many posts, tweets, status updates, and campaigns promoting adoption. Most of those are about the children who wait, and this is GOOD.

This post though isn’t about that.

This post is for the adoptive Mom who is at the end of her rope.

This post is for the adoptive Mom who feels utterly and hopelessly ALONE.

This post is for the adoptive Mom who has children in circumstances that rip this Momma’s heart in places she thought would be fatal … until she realized her heart had been ripped there.

This post is for the adoptive Mom who has given her all and yet … it isn’t enough.

I used to be much more involved in efforts to advocate for adoption. All out. No matter what. At all costs.

I honestly used to think adoption was the only answer for children who have through no fault of their own found themselves without the presence of their parent(s).

Hindsight as they say is 20/20.

In looking back and thinking about all our family has been through the past 6 years and 2 months since the adoption of our first of what would be four adopted children, I am challenged to share honestly about life as the mother of six children—two by birth and four by adoption.

Our family has been immensely blessed by adoption and our family has also been immensely challenged by the individual struggles and traumas our adopted children have endured.

This post will not be about our children’s traumas or their struggles. I cringe when I see some of the personal information that is all too often shared, and I shudder at times when I think of what these children may feel when they one day realize their adoptive mother or father has shared very private information in the name of education or awareness or {gasp} as some form of self-serving therapeutic release. Continue reading →

PreK with Li’l Bit {Week 8}

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We are continuing our study of letters in the alphabet using God’s Little Explorers and this last week we studied the Letter Q. We visited an aquarium restaurant the weekend before for Li’l Bit’s sister’s birthday. We have been looking for the letter q when we are out and about, and Li’l Bit was excited to find the letter in the word aquarium. She said she could really “hear it” too. LOVE IT!!!

The weather has been spectacular here with the fall colors of the trees and landscape surrounding us equally spectacular. So, we’ve spent a lot of time outside especially on this week. On Monday, we took our gator for a ride in the woods, and Li’l Bit was excited to discover some red berries growing on a bush along the way. She counted all the way to 18 with these berries!

Continue reading →

A Full Circle

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Beautiful children. Precious souls. Oh my heart.

The week of Thanksgiving last year proved to be one of the most difficult moments in our family, and now almost one year later, I can truthfully look back and say we have all grown in ways I never thought necessary, fair or worthwhile. Continue reading →

Y’all I love fall.

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Today was captivating. Today was productive. Today was enjoyable. Today was.

I finally finished a new resource. And got it printed, laminated and uploaded to my TpT store. I’ll have to share about it more on another day. For now, my family is going to take center stage here. Continue reading →

Book Talk Tuesday: Integrating Art with Elmer and A Million Dots

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My three younger students love to create works of art. Every week I try to think of ways (thank you Pinterest!) to combine art with planned lessons. Quite often, this is done by extending a book to add in an artful element of learning.

This past week, this was quite effortless. I love it when a good idea actually comes together! I know all teachers everywhere can totally relate. Holla!

I had been trying to snag A Million Dots from our local library for quite awhile. Last Wednesday, we finally found it available. I read it to them on Friday.

This book is so fun, because as you read through it you actually see a total of 1,000,000 dots! Each page shares a 6-digit number and an interesting fact. As we read the book my 3rd graders took turns reading the 6-digit numbers. They also read a page here and there, but this was my read-aloud to them that morning so mostly they listened while I read.

They loved it when I told them they could choose ANY 6-digit number, a favorite subject, AND we would do some research to write a fact about the number and subject matter. Continue reading →

PreK with Li’l Bit {Week 7}

Gulf Shores Family Beach Trip: October 7, 2014

Gulf Shores Family Beach Trip: October 6, 2014

Gulf Shores Family Beach Trip: October 5, 2014

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Day 1 on the beach was everything I imagined. Well, waking up at 5:30 a.m. wasn’t in my plans, but it did give me a little quiet time before the littles began to wake up about 7 a.m. I grabbed this screenshot of the low temp for the week! YIKES!

That was a bit cold, but we never saw temps below 70 again for the week and those were at night. Perfect! The temperature was a bit chilly, but as the day progressed the weather app read 73° by 2 p.m. and we were well on our way to warmer weather! I am often asked how I’m so organized and how in the world do I manage with 6 kids.

First off, The Prez and I work well together as a team when on vacation, but during the day-to-day I’m winging it solo as he works a lot of hours and isn’t here when we’re headed out the door most mornings. I very much appreciated him taking the role more often than not of sandwich maker each morning. It is a given law of family dynamics that 5 minutes (or less) after arriving at the beach no matter how much breakfast was consumed that people will be hungry. Continue reading →