Family Fun AWANA Awards

At the end of April, the boys were awarded for their hard work in Cubbies and Sparks this past year.  They were beyond excited about awards night especially because both Papa and Nana AND Grandpa and Grandma would be in attendance.

 Nate was so excited to go up on stage for his awards.

 Nate got an award for completing his book during the year and also because he was graduating from cubbies and heading into Sparks.

 They also sang some of their favorite songs and it was so fun seeing how animated he was on stage. 

 Josh on stage - he gets very serious (and slightly nervous) on stage.

 Josh received an award for finishing his book (it was also noted that he reviewed his book as well because he finished it so early in the year). 

 The Sparks also sang their favorite songs and I love seeing Josh singing!

Once the awards portion was done, everyone went to the gym where they had the kids play a game all together to get the parents a chance to see how the game time worked and then, they served ice cream.

Such a fun night after a great year and now, the boys are so excited because they will BOTH be in Sparks this fall and they LOVE being together :-)

Weekly Menu - The one without kids

This past week was good.  Mother's Day dinner was wonderful (my husband can grill a mean steak HA).  We enjoyed some awesome burgers and got to see the boys play in their first real T-ball game.  Now, though we are at the front end of a week without kids and you know what that means!! Not a lot of cooking!

Friday - I will be attending the conference most of the day - dinner will be determined when we eat.  Pizza? Taco Bell?  Whatever we grab? 

Saturday - The same as above

Sunday - We are in Traverse City so we will be eating there.

Monday/Tuesday - I WILL cook one of these days.  I'm thinking that Darryl will grill; probably steaks.  And then, I just heard of a new restaurant in the next town over that is supposed to have great burgers and fries so I think we might try that one night.  It is more of a "pub" so we don't really want to take the kids. (Or we will both be craving our favorite Mexican place OR we'll try a  new Italian place that is right next door to the Mexican place!)

Wednesday - The kids come home today and we are going to celebrate my mom's birthday.   As of the posting of this menu, I have no idea what I'm cooking yet :-) 

Thursday - T- ball Practice :-)  Two weeks ago, I made breakfast for dinner and I discovered that the boys were extremely hungry at about 9:00 at night (yep, they got out of bed and asked for food.).  So, something a little heartier - Chicken and Fries/Tater Tots.  I'll make Chick-Fil-lay nuggets for most of us and cook frozen nuggets for Nate since that is what he loves.

A Kindle Verses A Paper Book

You all know I love to read.  Books are like good friends who don't talk back :-)  For years I struggled with moving to the whole "E-Book" concept because, to me, nothing could really replace that feeling of a real book in my hands.  But, then my parents got me a Kindle for Christmas a few years ago and I discovered that there really are some benefits to the whole e-book concept. Eventually, I emptied my bookshelves and sold all of my "real books".  I still go back and forth with what is really the best way to read so I thought I'd throw down some pros and cons of an e-reader just for "fun"

Pro - I can get e-books very inexpensively I have a $20.00 a month budget for books.  If I search I can find free books or books for $0.99 each - even new releases by my favorite authors at times.  This means I can get tongs of books.  I usually "spurge" on one or two books that go with a series I'm reading but otherwise stick to the cheap books.  If I was buying real books - that $20.00 might get me two books a month.

Con  - I never have any idea what I'm reading.  When I read a paper book, I see the cover, the title, the back of the book every single time I pick it up.  I can remember the author and the title because of this - it is always in front of me.  With an e-book I never have any idea what I'm reading HA!  I never see the cover of the book and never read the back of a book. 

Pro - It's so easy to take my "book" anywhere I go.  Not to mention that I can "load" it with a handful of new books to read so no matter when I finish a book I always have a new one to read.  This is nice for traveling.  I used to take a grocery bag full of books with me anytime we traveled . . . now I just put my kindle in my purse and go. 

Con - I can't remember what books I've read and never re-read them.  When I had a bookshelf full of books (or two . . or three bookshelves!)  I had them all organized alphabetically by author (and yes, I had a spreadsheet of every book I owned!).  Every January, I would start back at letter "A" and reread just about every single book on my shelf throughout the year.  If I got the latest book in a series, I would reread that entire series before I read the new book.  It was awesome.  Now, I really am clueless what books I read last week, let alone last month.  I have not figured out anyway to categorize the books on my kindle to keep series together or to put books I've read in a certain spot.  I wish it had bookshelves . . . ..

Pro - Storage is easy.  I do miss having bookshelves of books in my home.  I think they add character to a house but, I really don't have a place for bookshelves full of books so not needing to store them is a good thing.

There's a short list for you :-)  I really do love my kindle but I do find that I like reading non-fiction, "self help" (for lack of a better word) books as paper books.  I feel like I get more out of them when I can turn back three or four pages easily and re-read something I didn't quite understand.  I find on the Kindle, it's hard to move back a few pages to read something again.  I also like being able to mark up a book that I'm reading to learn from so having the paper copy sure is nice!

Now, I think I'll go read !!

What We Are Eating - Simple Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes

Simple Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes
adapted from Cupcake Diaries 

This was a super easy recipe to make because it starts with a box mix :-)  The cakes match their name - they are the perfect blend of Strawberry and Lemon! 

Ingredients

• 1 box lemon cake mix, plus ingredients to make
• 24 cupcake liners
• 1 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 c. strawberry preserves
• 3 c. powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 24 strawberries, to garnish

Instructions

1. Bake cupcakes according to package directions. Remove from cupcake tins and place on wire rack to cool.
2. With an electric hand mixer, beat butter till smooth. Add powdered sugar 1/2 c. at a time; add vanilla extract and strawberry preserves.
3. Place frosting in a piping bag secured with a frosting tip (I used a Wilton 4B tip). Gently squeeze the frosting on each cupcake in a circular motion starting from the outside rim and working your way into the center. Top with a strawberry to gar

Teaching Tuesday - Summer "School" Style

This was our first official week of our Summer "School" plan and it pretty well.  We did some seat work a few days and then a project.  Not to mention PE (also known as T-Ball).  I even have a fantastic bruise where I took a bat to the arm while helping the boys work on their batting skills.  (Good thing we were just using a cheap plastic bat or I might actually be in a cast HA)

 One of my main goals with our summer school concept is to review items like sight words, phonics, and math.  I went through and searched out various packets of Kindergarten review worksheets and put together packets for each week.  Confessions of a Homeschooler has some great sight word worksheets and then I found a couple of complete packs of review info at Teachers Pay Teachers.  At first I tried to find all free worksheets but, honestly, paying about $8.50 for a complete pack of worksheets that takes us through the summer was well worth the time I saved.  The nice thing is that as we continue through the summer the boys will know what to do on each worksheet and won't need much direction. 

 Most of the sight words are review from this past year but we are putting them up on our wall for a visual each day. 

 This little book came in one of the packets I purchased so the boys cut out their pages and then we read the book together.

 Josh's flower that he made using patterns of color.

 Nate wanted to make a daisy - he did a great job.  This flower idea came from Mess for Less.  It was a perfect craft for my boys because it was simple and quick. 

I love the creativity my kids are starting to show.  One day last week, Josh came inside to get glue and paper.  Then, he gathered Nate and the Munchkin and instructed them to make a nature craft (we did this last year while camping).  The boys had to gather sticks, rocks, dirt, and flowers to glue on their papers.  Also, Nate learned how to make paper fans form a cartoon he was watching so then, he gathered us all at the table and taught us how to make one.  We had to color our paper and then "fold and flip" to make our fan. 

Make It Monday - Praying for our Kids

My kids are the most important "thing" in my life.  They are super cute, funny, fun, caring and, well, they drive me crazy.  But more than that, they burden my heart because my greatest desire is for them to grow up loving the Lord and knowing Jesus Christ as their personal savior.  I love that they are learning the Bible Truths and examples (I don't like calling them "stories" because the Bible is real - it is not a story book).  They understand more than I sometimes give them credit for and I love their simple, innocent ideas.  For example, Nate will tell me there are Four parts to God (not just the three parts - the Trinity).  My dad is probably cringing at the doctrinal implication I'm about to shatter HA According to Nate there is, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and God, the father of Abraham. :-)  I love it.  Anytime a discussion comes up about the Trinity - Nate has to remind us that God is actually four parts ;-) 

Anyway, I cam across a great chart over at Keeping it Personal.  This chart shares 31 Biblical Principals to Pray for our children.

The blog author gives a great idea that goes beyond just praying these virtues.  She suggests actually talking about them with your children each day.  Sure, some of the ideas might be over a child's head depending on their age but that doesn't really matter.  The more we talk about things, the more kids learn.  So, for make-it-Monday, I'm printing this off for myself and I'm going to work on doing this every day; every month.  Not only praying these for my children but talking to them about these virtues. 

Things My Kids Say

* Nate made a delcaration this week, "Dad has the biggest brain of every body.  He's so smart."  That was stated as Darryl and the boys were working on building train circles. 

* My boys tell me that they love me all of the time.  They tell me I'm the best mom ever.  Then, one day last week, Nate told me, "Mom, I will love you always and forever.".  So sweet. 

* Every single night Josh comes out of his room about 30 minutes after bedtime and says in his sweet voice, "Mom, I can't get to sleep, I need to sleep with you because you  make me sleepy."  He then proceeds to cuddle up and watch TV with me for a little bit before saying good night and heading to bed.