Friday was a full day of school - Bible, Math, Reading, Passport Club (geography/cultural awareness), Story & Tea Time. We had a really fun time with all of it, and then in the mid-afternoon Jim and Victoria took off for her last birthday-related event. She had told Jim that one thing she would *really* love for her birthday would be to attend another Braves game. We'd been to two already as a family, and she enjoyed it so much :-) Jim was able to find a great deal via Goldstar (coupon type website) and chose a Friday night game for them to attend so that they could stay to see fireworks! Meanwhile, I took the other two big kids on a couple of errands and then we came home for a popcorn & movie night.
I am really relishing our Bible time, and loving the object lessons book. I had really hesitated whether it's once-a-week style lessons would be enough, but a good friend (Mrs. C) suggested that if I loved it so much then perhaps I could take each week's lesson and really draw out two or three elements from the topic. This ended up being a great suggestion, and also forces me to really spend time mulling over the subject matter. Our 3rd and final day on the topic of Being Rooted in Jesus took form in studying about Thankfulness. We discussed how taking time to be thankful when we feel sad, angry, scared or just have a bad attitude in general can often help us refocus. The note to write in their journals was "Thankfulness helps us to be rooted in Jesus" (Colossians 2:6-7 was our scripture for the week). We also colored in little hands to paste in the journals, which tied in with the other part of the lesson.
I had found a few great ideas online for helping kids visualize ways to be thankful. Or in other words, how to employ thankfulness when it's not easy. One idea that I loved was to teach children to have thankful hands - to tick off ten things (one per finger) they are thankful to God for when they are struggling with any kind of negative emotion. To leave an impression on exactly how that works, I had each kiddo rattle off ten things - I had written on my own hands as an example (and to show them they didn't need to be all "Bible" answers - some of mine were, like "God", etc., but I also had down "hugs," "tea time," and so forth). Here was Lincoln's: God, Uncle Jeff, Mommy, Grammie, My Nook, Papa, Nana, BearBear, Daddy, Basketball.
Scarlett's: Mommy, Friends, Grammie, Nana, Family, Cat, Health, Jesus, God, Animals, Siblings, Love.
I hope this very visual object lesson will stick with them!
Gram participated too! I'd asked her the night before if she would help me write on their hands, as I knew they would all be eager for this :-) Gram's: Friends, A Nice Room, I have Health, A Great Church, God, I trust Jesus, Family, Good Home, Eyesight, Heaven, Salvation. Victoria's: Good Attitude, Family, Bear Head (favorite lovey), Siblings, Daddy, Mommy, My House, Nana, Friends, Jesus.
Truly, we don't even understand exactly how incredibly thankful we should be all of the time! But hopefully this will help all of us to remember!!
Tracing maps of China - first we used highlighters to trace large maps of just China; then we had maps of Asia, and the kids had to locate China based on the shape they had just become familiar with. Victoria noted that China "sort of looks like a puppy, but with no tail." :-) Lincoln spotted China within Asia in about 1 second! The girls were impressed.
Tea & Story Time! We had cinnamon & apple spice tea - Scarlett got to choose and I think the fall-esque weather inspired her.
We read two chapters from "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane," then the kids made crafts depicting Edward being thrown off the ship and sinking to the bottom of the deep sea. I made an example one for them (far left) and hung their finished work next to mine on the mirror. So it's mine, then Lincoln's, Scarlett's, and Victoria's.
Waverly thought craft time would be ideal to take a long nap... in my arms ;-) So I foiled her plans by putting her in the wrap, where she snoozed away contentedly.
Sweet baby girl! I look tired... maybe because I was really tired? Probably :-)
I wasn't the only one! While the girls did their math and reading, Lincoln quietly snuck away to Nana's room where she was working from home. I had been downstairs and heard him chatting to her, so I knew he wasn't into any mischief (more than usual) but I was surprised that he stayed down there during all of our one-on-one time... then I got this picture text from my mom ;-) Apparently Nana's bed is just a little TOO comfy.
Random sweet shot of Waverly staring up at Gram while eating. She is getting to such a fun age! (the baby, not Gram; although Gram is also at a fun age, lol)
Daddy and Victoria - ready to head out for dinner (Mexican, of course!) and the game. They didn't get home til after midnight! I Facetime'd with her on their drive home as she was super tired, it was late, and she wanted to tell me everything about the game :-) Toward the end of our Facetime session I saw her just kind of slump over and she handed the phone to Jim, haha. That was one very, very sleepy little 5-year-old! She had a wonderful time :-)
After Jim and Victoria departed, I *had* to run to the pet supply store and pick up cat and dog food. The dog had a few scoops left, but the cats had missed breakfast and sat like sentinels next to their food bowls ALL day, expectantly waiting. Lincoln and Scarlett came with me, and we ended up at Barnes & Noble for a while, too. We took advantage of the cafe and got treats before browsing around for almost an hour. I love Barnes & Noble the way a lot of other people love the library - I'll go and sit there for hours reading books (given the opportunity), or working on my laptop. The kids seem to feel the same way - we'll take over a few chairs in the kids' section and read books together for a long time.
Browsing :-)
