Let the Year of Giving begin!

Today was teachers workday for me but JD had the day off so he got to keep Soph and Trey all day. He had a good day. He took them to the park and Wal-Mart and Burger King ( they even brought me burger king for lunch) then back home so Soph could take a nap and JD and Trey could watch the Gators win the Gator bowl. When I got home I made white bean chicken chilli for supper (perfect night for it. It is cold and getting colder! high of 45 tomorrow!) Tonight was family home evening (which I am going to try to do better at this year). Our theme for tonight was Service. This year, as I said in a previous post, we are going to have a year of giving. Every month we will pick a new charity, learn about it, find out how we can help then help in some way. I looked at a (not very comprehensive) lost of organizations in the area and before we even told Trey about the list he said he wanted to help a group that is for animals. So we decided on the Humane Society. Tomorrow me and Trey will call them and tell them about our little project and tell them we would like to donate some dog food and ask what we can do to help. We are also going to ask if we can come by and talk to them and learn about what they do and learn about the animals. Trey is really excited. We talked about what charity is and why they might need help. He is pretty smart. He knew basically what a charity was he just wasn't sure we called it a charity. He also said, before we ever even talked about what the theme was going to be he said he wanted to make a card for someone who needed a card. Well I had just heard today that his teacher had hurt her foot really badly. So I suggested he make her a card. He loved that idea of course because he loves his teacher, Mrs. Brown. Our opening song tonight was "As a Child of God". That is the song for the month in primary. Since I am the music leader for primary I need to learn it as well as Trey so I decided to introduce it to him tonight. We played it a few times and I spoke the words for him. He likes it and I do too. I hope the primary kids like it. It is so much easier to teach a new song if they like it. After we practiced our new song and we picked our charity for the month and made a card for his teacher we had chocolate chip cookies for a treat. I declare it a Good night.




















































































































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Maybe not.

So maybe Trey doesn't have chicken pox. The bumps have not itched him at all today and they don't seem to be progressing. Karen said they will change. They will get blister-like then dry up and scab over. They have not changed at all and even look lighter tonight. This is such a good thing. Although I would like to know what kind of funk my child has. At least it's not chicken pox. I was afraid he wouldnt want to ever eat chicken again. lol

A year of giving.

So I was reading a friends blog and she has a theme for each year. This year was a year for adventures then she decided to add giving. I hope she doesn't mind but I am going to steal this idea from her. Not the theme thing but the giving thing. I need to do more service. I need to teach the kids about serving. I do service through my church but not really for the community I live in. Each month me and the kids are gonna pick a different charity or group and provide something or perform a service for that group. It may be as small as donating something or larger like actually performing a service which will require time which seems to always be at a premium for us. So starting in January we will pick our charity for the month and before the end of the month we will decide what we will do. I am excited. I need to teach the kids more about and instill in them a true love for serving others. If they can learn to be humble enough to serve others and if they can lose themselves in serving others and if I can teach them to love giving of themselves I will have left a legacy worth leaving. The best way to teach is to do, so I will do. Charity is the pure love of Christ.

Chicken pox for Christmas.

So I've been slacking. This always happens. At the time when life is the most fun and there is the most going on when I should be blogging the most because there is more to blog I get so busy and tired that I slack up on blogging. Forgive me. Let's catch up. I am off work. Does this mean vacation for me? NOoooo. This is the time when everything I was saving up to do has to get done. It's count down time. 3 days until Christmas. All the presents are bought, wrapped and under the tree. Lightening has been keep an eye on things around here. He has been on the hat rack, on Santa's little goodie tray, Hiding in the china cabinet, on the kitchen table and on the back door curtain. He is a busy fellow. We are all awaiting Santa's arrival.

Last night Trey spent the night with Nana and Pa. Nana called and asked if I knew of anyone in his class at school that had chicken pox. She said he had some bumps on his shoulder and back that were a little itchy. Today they are more pronounced and there seems to be more of them. For the most part they dont itch but earlier today they were pretty itchy so we dabbed calamine on him and he said he was embarrassed he would look like a girl with pink spots on him. Since then they havent itched at all. He is doing really well. I am actually not 100% sure it's the pox. There arent very many more and they dont seem to be progressing. They arent itching him much either. He has only told me once they itched. I sent Karen pics and she said they certainly looked like them but it was a little curious he had them because he was vaccinated and he should not get them. So if he does indeed have a full blown case I should take him to the Dr. to let them document it and they might even want to do some blood work to see if he is not building up the antibodies to the virus. This could be an issue later in life. So we wait and see. I will need to decide in the next 2 days because the Dr. office will be closed. I guess this is a good time to have them since we are both off school and work. He is the only child in his class to have perfect attendance still. I can hardly believe that. My sickly little baby that was in the hospital and constantly in the Dr's office is a healthy, smart boy who has perfect attendance. I'm proud of him. Soph is young enough that if she does get exposed she should get a mild case if that. JD has had chicken pox so he should be fine. I however, have not. If I have it was so mild we didnt notice it when Jenifer had them. I hope I was exposed because if I get them now I will be in bad shape probably. I am anxious to see hoe he looks tomorrow when he wakes up. Time will tell.

Chinese Bakery

Every year on a Saturday before Christmas me, Jen, Selena, Momma, Soph, Trey and whatever friend we can rope in get in the kitchen and bake. We make homemade goodies, cookies and old fashioned candies. This year this was the menu.



Fudge, Whatchamacallit cookies, Caramel, apricot squares, divinity, Martha Washington Balls, Sand Tarts, butter creams, marshmallows.

We had a blast.

Ok the caramel was a fail. I somehow burned it beyond recognition before I had even put the butter in. I didn't get around to my marshmallows or divinity.

Little sneak.

The face.Gettin' candy coated.


We train 'em young.It takes a real man.

Breakfast with Santa.

The kids made these little ornaments as one activity while they waited for their classes turn to see Santa. That is Miguel behind Trey.


Me and Mrs. Brown stopping to cheese for the camera so Trey could be the photographer.



Trey finally got his turn. He told Santa he wanted a blue Transformer that turns into a motorcycle. Check.




After they made their ornament, they went back stage and had a story read to them then went to see Santa and talk to him. Then they went to a table to make bracelets. It has a bell on it with "jewels". Then when they got finished with that they go to go to the table and have a donut and juice. Trey said he wasnt going to eat his because he eats donuts with a fork so he doesnt get his hands sticky. When I told him to pick it up with his napkin he was ok.

Monday.

Once we got everyone fed, bathed and practiced counting to 100 and by 2's and by 5's we had family home evening tonight and it was fun. We sang "Once There Was a Snowman" and after a drawn out "einie meanie miney moe" Trey decided he should say the opening prayer. Then we had a little lesson on prayer. Trey has recently been cutting prayers short. Like his blessing on the food will consist of "Dear Heavenly Father thank you for a good day and we are glad we had a great day amen." He just says he had a great day 2 or 3 times and thats it. lol So we talked about how we open a prayer and what all a prayer should consist of and that we should thank for blessings before we ask for blessings ( thats just good manners right? lol) We should ask for blessings for others and in prayers that aren't blessings on food we should ask for forgiveness for things we have done wrong that day and help us do better. Ya know the basics. Then we did a fun little project where we made a little foam snowman out of precut parts. (hence us singing "Once there was a snowman" for our opening song. I try to connect the dots when I can). Then we had our snack. Jd had bought Trey his favorite candy bar, 3 Musketeer, and Sophie some M and M's. So we sat and had our snack in front of a nice fire on a cold wet day. Talk about Blessings. I am so thankful for Trey and Sophie. They keep me on the right path and make me a better person.