Repost :: thankful

I posted this last thanksgiving, but thought someone might want to do the thankful tree as well. I have a lot of work to so today 😉

this past week was thanksgiving. it has been a full, busy week. my husband works for a magazine in memphis, and they were in their busy time, but my family was in from out of town, so it kinda made everything better and easier. the cousins got to play together and everyone knows that my mom’s cookin is the best! 

last thanksgiving, we began the tradition of the thankful tree. about 2 weeks before halloween, my oldest started asking about the thankful tree and if we were going to do it again. that made me so happy and i hope to do this every year. usually we write down whatever it is the boys say, which makes it pretty fun to read through, because you have things like “hawks” and “the elmo basket” and “medicine”. ha! all i did was find some sticks that looked good together, cut out leaves and punched holes in them (from scrapbook paper), and gathered lots of little pumpkins for my vase. then, each night, we all took a turn saying what we were thankful for. i think daddy won the prize of people being thankful for him the most. i know i am!!

 

i also got to help out at the boys school with their thanksgiving party. this party is so cute because they sing a few songs and dress up like pilgrims and indians. i was in charge of pumpkins, the thankful tree, and a take home treat. i ended up making these cornucopias for all the kids (tutorial coming up next!). then, i found some printables that said “gobble till you wobble” which i thought was hilarious.  

the table scape for the party. we had popcorn, pilgrim’s hats with apples in them, chex mix, pumpkin muffins, donut hole acorns, cheese cubes, and cute little orange water that looked like pumpkins.

one mom made this paper bag turkey that was so fun, then we used our thankful tree and various pumpkins.

 

2012 has definitely had it’s moments, but i couldn’t be more thankful for these three amazing kids and their amazing husband. life is good.

First Day of School

So. My baby starts kindergarten tomorrow. KINDERGARTEN. You might remember this post. So, the day is here. I thought I’d embrace it and set my mind to think I’m going to love this year.
Part of loving the year is loving Dillon’s teacher. I decided to put together a little care package for her for the first day of school.
It simply includes a pencil cup, pens, pencils, and post-it notes, along with some nail polish for her, and an apple, of course. We just wrote a little note that says “I’m so glad you’re my teacher!” Love, Dillon. Simple, but means a lot…hopefully.

thoughts on :: school days

So, my oldest starts kindergarten, in like 10 days…but who’s counting?! This momma is for sure! I think I’ve been dreaming about this day from the day Ben and I started talking about having kids. And here we are, 8 years later, with our first going to kindergarten. Be still my heart.
Ok, so enough of the sappy 😉 I have had many conversations with people about where my kids will actually go to school. When all the common core stuff came out for the state of Tennessee, Ben and I kinda freaked out a little. We didn’t know what it was or if our boys would be so digitalized that they wouldn’t know how to carry on a conversation. However, we stopped. Prayed. Thought about what we really felt like God had laid on our hearts. And remembered…

Our heart is to reach out to our community
We want our kids to be multicultural
We want to be a part of other people’s lives that we wouldn’t normally associate with because of church, neighborhood, or life
We were raised in the public school system and we turned out great (seriously, this one is number 1)

Then, we calmed down a little and called my mom, who is a part of Union University’s teacher education program. She has recently told me that she thinks the common core is one of the best things our education program could do for the state. More confidence is building.
We also looked at homeschooling. My super awesome sister (read hero in every way) home schools not one, but 4 kids, and another one of my mentors/BFF has homeschooled about 6 kids at one time. So,I have it all around me. I talked to them about how and why they decided to homeschool. And they both said “we just knew it was what our family needed.” And I thought “well, why can’t you decide what’s best for my family?” Not really, but kinda. Anyway, we decided to start off by just checking into the public school that we are zoned for. It actually is the same elementary school I went to. We had also checked out one private school here in town, and liked it, so we had a little comparison. When we went, we didn’t see anything different in the public school from the private school we looked at. All of the kindergarten teachers had great classroom management. They had very hands on station type things. The kids were all well behaved. And we went right to the office and were welcomed.
So, we said, “let’s remember why we wanted to do public school in the first place and why we moved where we did (to be zoned for this school), and just go for it.” And so we are.
I have a special Ed degree and had the amazing opportunity to teach for several years prior to having kids. And I hope to teach again someday, but I hope more so to instill in my kids why I am called to be a teacher. To love on the unlovable, to teach the unteachable, and to share the love of Christ with everyone I know.
My prayer for Dillon is just that. That he would be teachable. That he would want to love and be loved. That he would remember everything we have taught him about Christ. And that he would share Christ’s love with everyone he comes in contact with. Not because I think he’s a rock star (even though he is) and I want to throw him to the wolves, but because I believe…we believe…this is the path God has for us at this moment. It may change, and it may not. But we continue to live just like we always have. We live for today because we’re not promised tomorrow.
Here’s to you, Dilly Bar!!!

a wreath

so, my front door has been bare since Christmas. really, since i took my Christmas wreath down, which is really just a grapevine wreath with a big gold bow made from some ribbon i found at my granny’s house while we were cleaning it out. so it’s sentimental, but can last for a long time! so, it’s been bare since about march. don’t judge.

as you know, we lost our 5th baby, christian elias, a month ago today. there are several things i’ve wanted to do to remember him, and a wreath on the front door was one of them. a friend of mine who went through a similar experience 2 1/2 years ago has since had 2 babies, and for each baby, she puts a wreath on the door with their name, stats, and birthday. well, i love her wreaths, and since we lost our 4th baby, i had wanted to do a wreath for our 5th, which in turn happened to be christian. so, i made a wreath in honor of christian this weekend.

i didn’t really plan this, but after looking at my wreath, it really stands for our 5 kids. it’s very simple to make this wreath, as well. i took a pool noodle and taped the ends together. then wrapped it in some fabric that i had, hot glueing it as i needed. then i did the same with the wooden “w” (bought at hobby lobby). the cross just kinda came together unexpected, but it’s wrapped in the middle with wire. the “w” and cross are secured on the wreath with wire, then the pendant is just burlap and twine, tied on the wreath. simple. easy

the cross for christian, and the “w” for our 4th babythe pendant at the top for dillon, isaac and sammy

and the side view.

i really love it. new fave for sure.