So it's Halloween! This has always been one of my most favorite holidays - it's fun, you get to dress up, and you get candy. Love it! But this year we have a nearly 4yo who gets scared easily and that put a whole new twist on things. He's watched one too many Scooby Doo cartoons and now he's terrified to go to bed with the lights off because there might be a boogy man or a ghost in his room. So we had tentatively decided not to go Trick or Treating becasue we didn't want to add to his fears. I also started thinking that maybe that was God's way of saying we shouldn't do Halloween anymore. I have lots of friends who don't do Halloween and there have been lots of discussions on the CMF boards and on AFR about the evilness of the holiday.
My own personal thoughts have been that you can shine a light for Jesus even during a holiday that Satan is trying to use for himself. So last year we gave out little cards with Bible verses with our candy and this year I had decided to give out little papers with the "Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin" thing on it. But even up till the last minute I was undecided as to what to do. Was I just compromising so I wouldn't make waves with my family and friends or just so my kids wouldn't "miss out"? I mean, I could just buy them candy, right? And we could dress up ANY day, right? Besides, we had alreay defiantely decided not to go downtown because of all the scary costumes. But on the other hand, we went Trick or Treating last year, so my neighbors might think we were weird to be the only house on the street with out lights off and they would notice if our kids didn't come by their houses...
By today, everything Ian had been seeing on TV is Halloween themed and everyone at church and playgroups had been asking him what he's dressing up as, so when the time came, he wanted to go out. Well, of course, we didn't have a costume, so I just grabbed some play clothes...I told Ian he could be a fireman and Zollie could be Spiderman. That went over like a lead balloon...Ian wanted to be Spiderman (of course) and Zollie wanted to wear the fireman jacket. So here is Ian trying to fit his 4yo body into a 18m sized Spiderman costume and Zollie drowning in a 4yo sized fireman coat. It was adorably cute. I got Ian to compromise and wear red sweatpants over his costume so that the neighbors wouldn't see how the thing only came down to his knees. I dressed up like a pirate, and out we went.
We made it to about 4 or 5 houses on our block and then we hit one that had one of those motion sensors on the door that made a ghost thing moan at us, and Ian was done. I regretted even going out. He's in bed now, with the lights on, telling me how "Zollie is scared of the dark."
Bleh.
We just about ran out of candy at our house, as always. I gave out the little flyers with each of my candy pieces and so I felt a little better about participating, but I still have this nagging feeling that we shouldn't do it at all, no matter how fun it is. I still can't decide what the right answer is. When I hear some people talking about how it's evil and the Bible says "flee from evil" and to dwell only on things that are pure and good, it seems like a no brainer. But then I hear other people talking about how it can be a ministry opportunity...I can reach out to the neighborhood kids for Jesus (because they are going to go Trick or Treating anyway) and how we really aren't celebrating evil, just dressing up and getting candy. It's just not clear cut to me. I guess I get another year to ponder and pray and talk with PG about what we should do next time.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
October 26, 2009 - Ian's First Lapbook!
One of our projects in school last week was to make a lapbook. We found a really neat template off of http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ , which is a FANTASTIC website for finding lapbooks to go with just about any topic. I found one that went with the book Are You My Mother by P.D. Eastman. Here are some pictures of the book once it was all put together!
Here is the cover.
I made the book by just taking 3 sheets of construction paper and folding them in half and then nesting them sinside each other. Then I punched a couple of holes in the bend and ran string through to bind them together. Easy peasy!
These are pages 1 and 2. Page 1 had a little trace the line thing where you "help the baby bird find his mama". Page 2 had an accordian book where Ian matched the right number of baby birds with the printed number and a fold open egg with a chick inside.
Pages 3 and 4 had big B and little b and then baby bird. You could have added white craft feathers to the bird picture, but we didn't have any, so our bird is naked.
Pages 5 and 6 had pictures of the other animals baby bird thought might be his mommy.
Pages 7 and 8 are next. Page 7 has a picture of baby bird's home. Ian got to glue the baby bird into the nest. It suggested gluing leaves, sticks or Easter Grass to the nest, but again, that just seemed too messy for me. Page 8 has an envelope and in it are pictures of mama and baby animals. They fit together like puzzel pieces.
Back cover. It has a layer book with all the animals baby bird thought was his mama. You can go through each and talk about the sounds they make, what their babies are called, etc.
This was a really cute, really fun project! I think we are going to do the one about Fish Out Of Water next!
Here is the cover.
I made the book by just taking 3 sheets of construction paper and folding them in half and then nesting them sinside each other. Then I punched a couple of holes in the bend and ran string through to bind them together. Easy peasy!
These are pages 1 and 2. Page 1 had a little trace the line thing where you "help the baby bird find his mama". Page 2 had an accordian book where Ian matched the right number of baby birds with the printed number and a fold open egg with a chick inside.
Pages 3 and 4 had big B and little b and then baby bird. You could have added white craft feathers to the bird picture, but we didn't have any, so our bird is naked.
Pages 5 and 6 had pictures of the other animals baby bird thought might be his mommy.
Pages 7 and 8 are next. Page 7 has a picture of baby bird's home. Ian got to glue the baby bird into the nest. It suggested gluing leaves, sticks or Easter Grass to the nest, but again, that just seemed too messy for me. Page 8 has an envelope and in it are pictures of mama and baby animals. They fit together like puzzel pieces.
Back cover. It has a layer book with all the animals baby bird thought was his mama. You can go through each and talk about the sounds they make, what their babies are called, etc.
This was a really cute, really fun project! I think we are going to do the one about Fish Out Of Water next!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
October 10, 2009
Well I'm DONE! I have officially sent in every single piece of work I needed to send in to get my doula certification. Now I just have to wait for it to get ok'd so I can officially apply for certification and get my card in the mail! YAY!
What a huge weight lifted off my shoulders!
On a related note, we had a doula meeting last night. There were 6 of us there, in various stages of training. How awesome that there are that many doulas in Greenville now! We're going to open a chapter of the Birth Connection and I've started a Yahoo! Group for us...Eastern Carolina Birth Connection, or ECBC. Very excited! Hope we get lots of members so we can start networking and learning from each other and helping garner clients for each other.
~~~
Now on to homeschooling. Co-op has been going really well, except that Ian cries for the first 5 minutes when I leave him. But he always comes out saying how much fun he had. School at home is going REALLY well. We've done a lot of phonics work and he can READ now! It's so exciting! He can pick up a little book and read it to me with minimal help. It's just amazing...he doesn't turn 4 for another month+ and he's already reading little beginner books with me. *insert teary eye'd emote here*
We've also been working on Rod and Staff preschool books. They have books A-F and we've taken A-C first, then we'll move on to D-F. I hear they are coming out with the next 6 as well, so that should take us through Kindy and then we can pick up Story of the World for 1st.
He's also learning to count in Spanish, which is so cute. And we are working on ASL as well.
~~~
As far as just life in general...as we get closer and closer to Zollie's birthday, my emotional state is taking a downhill turn. On October 14th we'll celebrate 2 years of Zollie's life and 2 months that Anna has been gone. It's hard. Just typing it I'm tearing up. I went to a cloth diaper party this week and it was really difficult being around all those pregnant women and new babies. They were so sweet, and I'm so happy for them, but I should have a big belly by now and it's not fair that I don't.
PG's in Winston Salem today with his Nana helping her move. Memaw is home from the hospital, but she fell down the stairs last week. My poor step-dad lost his uncle, his good friend, and his dog all within 2 weeks.
Live has just been rough around here recently.
But we're making it...we're getting by. We're trusting that God has a plan for all of this.
What a huge weight lifted off my shoulders!
On a related note, we had a doula meeting last night. There were 6 of us there, in various stages of training. How awesome that there are that many doulas in Greenville now! We're going to open a chapter of the Birth Connection and I've started a Yahoo! Group for us...Eastern Carolina Birth Connection, or ECBC. Very excited! Hope we get lots of members so we can start networking and learning from each other and helping garner clients for each other.
~~~
Now on to homeschooling. Co-op has been going really well, except that Ian cries for the first 5 minutes when I leave him. But he always comes out saying how much fun he had. School at home is going REALLY well. We've done a lot of phonics work and he can READ now! It's so exciting! He can pick up a little book and read it to me with minimal help. It's just amazing...he doesn't turn 4 for another month+ and he's already reading little beginner books with me. *insert teary eye'd emote here*
We've also been working on Rod and Staff preschool books. They have books A-F and we've taken A-C first, then we'll move on to D-F. I hear they are coming out with the next 6 as well, so that should take us through Kindy and then we can pick up Story of the World for 1st.
He's also learning to count in Spanish, which is so cute. And we are working on ASL as well.
~~~
As far as just life in general...as we get closer and closer to Zollie's birthday, my emotional state is taking a downhill turn. On October 14th we'll celebrate 2 years of Zollie's life and 2 months that Anna has been gone. It's hard. Just typing it I'm tearing up. I went to a cloth diaper party this week and it was really difficult being around all those pregnant women and new babies. They were so sweet, and I'm so happy for them, but I should have a big belly by now and it's not fair that I don't.
PG's in Winston Salem today with his Nana helping her move. Memaw is home from the hospital, but she fell down the stairs last week. My poor step-dad lost his uncle, his good friend, and his dog all within 2 weeks.
Live has just been rough around here recently.
But we're making it...we're getting by. We're trusting that God has a plan for all of this.
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