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Cheryl over at Twinfatuation hosts this one. Go on over to see who else is playing – and join in too!
In honor of yesterday’s post, I dug up a picture from Burke was “reading” – you can see a super cute video of it too. It’s from July of 2009.
Burke "Reading" - July of 2009
Filed under: Burke, WBW | Tagged: reading | Leave a comment »
Burke brought his homework binder home for the long weekend (the first we’ve seen of it). One of the sheets had about 10 Rebus sentences on it (pictures in place of a word). I wish I had thought to take a picture of the paper, but it’s already back at school (perhaps I will when it comes home again).
To my surprise, Burke read every single sentence! Pointing to each word as he went along. The pictures, of course, helped. And there were colors in each sentence that had been underlined in the right color – I’m assuming during class.
The sentences were all something like:
The thought behind the Rebus work is that it helps kids learn the words around the pictures faster, with less frustration, so they’re excited to read and will continue to work on it.
I’m *so* impressed!!
Filed under: Burke, school | Tagged: first sentences, pictures, reading, Rebus | Leave a comment »
While at my Dad’s house, Maggie found one of my favorite spots to explore when I was younger.
Passing along exploration spots to my kids Makes My Monday.
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Maggie, Burke, and Logan put on a puppet show for us today!
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Apple picking (on my birthday!) with Grandpa and Nana.
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I’ve been meaning to get in on the Finished for Friday stuff going on over at Lit and Laundry, but I just haven’t been able to get my act together to actually finish things 😉
And you’ve seen these modeled by my kids already, but they count!! I finished them!
I actually made Maggie’s a wee bit too short, but added a crochet boarder (which means it doesn’t roll now), but I think it makes it a little more girly anyway…
Knitted hats
Close-up
I found the roll-brim pattern online, but had to improvise just a little bit since it was for an adult (or larger child..?) Here’s my version:
Use circular needles
Cast on 75 and join (be sure not to twist the work!)
Add a stitch marker because you’ll be working in the round
knit in the round for about 6 inches (I think I knitted 45 rounds??)
Decrease as follows:
Round 1: *k13, k 2 together, rep from *
Round 2: k
Round 3: *k12 , k 2 together, rep from *
Round 4: k
Round 5: *k11, k 2 together, rep from *
Round 6: k
Round 7: *k10 , k 2 together, rep from *
Round 8: k
Round 9: *k9, k 2 together, rep from *
Round 10: k
Round 11 on: Decrease every round until 5 stitches remain.
Cut yarn and draw through last stitches….fasten off.
Weave all your cut ends into your hat.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Finished for Friday, knit hat, roll-brim hat | 1 Comment »
One of the hot topics among my Fishful Thinking peers is being your own biggest critic. No kidding, right? When asked the question about what brings out your inner critic, I was surprised to see – and then not really surprised to see – that many of the mom’s answers were similar to mine:
My inner critic is always around when I’m in one of those “parenting” situations where I could have done MUCH better…or when I feel like my kids could have done better (in public) and it’s perhaps a reflection on my parenting skills.
So what does this mean? If so many moms feel this way – what’s made us like this? Is it one or two moms who exude so much confidence at the park who make the rest of us feel like we’re not cutting it? Perhaps. But I suspect that those moms are also feeling the same way.
So what do we do about this? I’ve been trying to check my expressions at the door (or Park entrance…). Sometimes just a single look from another mom is enough to send me over the edge…she’s looking at me or my kids for just a split second too long, or raises an eyebrow at something…you know. I’m trying to consciously exude an “Oh, I’ve SO been there – I feel your pain” to other moms.
But I’ve also been trying to stop putting “words” into other mom’s looks. Perhaps they’re just curious about how *I’LL* handle the situation, rather than thinking about how they’d do it so much better than I am. In difficult situations I’m also trying to remember all of the things I’ve handled exceptionally well (which, I must admit, is difficult to do while you’re in the moment!).
There’s a wonderful article about how to Accentuate the Positive. It’s written for how to help your child stay optimistic; but you can absolutely apply it to yourself as well. To paraphrase: Highlight your abilities. Promote your confidence by telling yourself specific things that you’ve done well and you’ll learn that positive outcomes are the result of your own actions. For example, if you’re really good at keeping your calm when one of your kids is picking on another one of your kids, mentally take note each and every time.
Another really helpful article is How to Be a Happier Mom. Some of the items touched on are pretty common sense ones, but sometimes it’s really good to be reminded. I know *I* need the reminder every now and again. And we all know that a happy mom is a relaxed mom. And a relaxed mom can tackle just about any situation thrown at her. 🙂
Filed under: fishful thinking, Uncategorized | Tagged: fishful thinking, happy mom, inner critic, power of positive thinking | 2 Comments »
Cheryl over at Twinfatuation hosts this one. Go on over to see who else is playing – and join in too!
This picture was taken on October 11, 2006. Maggie was not quite 2. As you can see…she already had a budding sense of style (I’m fairly certain that I wasn’t the one to put that headband on her…Headbands are still her number one go-to choice for hair in the morning.)
Tea Time!
Filed under: Maggie, WBW | Tagged: headbands, stylin', tea party | 1 Comment »
Over the past few days we’ve been to two fairs. The first was a Church fair where all of them women’s groups got together to sell home made things and stuff like that. There was a “General Store” where jams and knitted items and such were displayed (where I worked for an hour). There were booths full of flannel blankets and one booth entirely dedicated to pies. There was a crafting booth where kids could go and paint or make a sand necklace. There were booths with hot dogs for lunch. My women’s group put together bags of bulbs to sell (we almost sold out!). They also had a lawn sale with items that members of the church had donated. The Fair was pretty big! I had a good time at my table…and even came away with an apple pie and 3 of those towels with loop-type tops sewn on so they won’t fall off my oven handle anymore. 🙂
The second one was a book fair at the school. So much fun! I remember loving looking through those Scholastic pamphlets at all the books that had the potential to come home with me…and Burke and Maggie have picked that tradition right up. As soon as the pamphlet came through the door, they were pouring through trying to figure out which books would make it into our house. I gave them each a $20 spending limit. Maggie immediately pointed to the book she wanted …which, of course, was $19.99. And Burke spent his time choosing 4 books that equaled $20. (Shows so much about their personality…most expensive vs. largest number of things for his buck…) The fun part of this though was this it was an actual book fair during their library time today. I got to go in and help them choose what they wanted. Actual books! Luckily, Maggie was the first session of the day and she knew exactly what she wanted – I couldn’t sway her in the slightest – so she made a B-line right for her book. I say “luckily” because there were only 2 of those books…and another little girl in her class snapped up the other one. Burke’s session was later in the day (after lunch) after 4 or 5 other classes had already gone through, but he wasn’t as picky as Maggie. I think we made one substitution for him and he was fine with it.
Helping out at two different (but fun in their own way) Fairs Makes My Monday.
Cheryl over at Twinfatuation hosts this one. Head on over to see what else makes people’s Mondays (there are always some really good ones!)
Filed under: me, MMM | Tagged: Book Fair, books, Church Fair, Fair Fun | Leave a comment »
The Zimmer Zoo 