Packing Lunches

This year I haven't been very good at packing lunches. There was just too much for me to think about at the beginning of the year with three going to school (I had two other foster boys) Because my boys got free lunches it just seemed easier to have AnnieQ buy her lunch. Then for a while she and JJ were asking for me to pack their lunches. Oh it comes and goes really. Now since the boys moved home before Christmas, this year, AnnieQ has been asking more and more for me to pack it. I know it just takes some planning and I can do it. And since all she does is grab the grab and go lunch at school, it seems just easier. I had bought these Ziplock containers a while ago that looked like bento ones I had seen before. I though these would be great! And they sat, and sat, and sat. Finally I cam across a Pinterest post about a container looking similar and was inspired!

I found the sight for Easy Lunchboxes.  It has great Lunch box ideas!

So here is how I did it! First AnnieQ doesn't really eat bread, they pick it off and eat the inside. So I don't bother with bread.





One compartment there are raisins, banana chips, and there is a little starburst for her as a special treat!:)
Then strawberries, of course strawberries!:)  Apple sauce, crackers, cheese, and turkey (wrapped in wax paper)




Now this is in my fridge ready to go in the morning!



Plenty of room in her little lunch box.  I will add a milk in the morning with a ice pack and she will be ready to go!

Just need a plan and stick with it! 

A Little Lent and Easter for Kids

Hard to believe we are in our second week of Lent.  Sad to think I haven't done anything with the kids!  We have a devotional some where that we have use in the past, but this year I am bearly keeping up with my own devotions.  And I think that our cruise at the end of the month has over shadowed our preparing for Easter vs Vacation.  I have a few ideas in mind to help get our kids ready for Easter.

Things I want to do

• Resurrection Cookies-  Faithful Provisions has a wonderful step by step how to do this.
• Holy Week banner
• Resurrection Eggs
• Blessing Baskets- we did this a few years ago, we put together some baskets with some fun stuff in them and handed them out to various people.  
• Jelly beans poem.  We did this before and handed it out to people.

I also collected some great Lent and Easter ideas over at Pinterest.  Check me out.  

Other sites that have some fun ides.  

The common sense mama - has some awesome ideas including a link to Lenten Adventure.

Children's Ministry- Has some great Palm Sunday ideas

Catholic icing - has wonderful ideas from food to crafts

Sunday school kids -a learning game for Holy Week

http://www.worship.ca/easter.html - a HUGE list of resources for Lent and Easter

raising little saints - Also a nice list of blogs and resources for Lent and Easter

CPH has a great collection of books to teach and share the story of Lent and Easter

While I am not Catholic, some of these catholic mom's have awesome ideas!

What are you doing for Lent and Easter?  Share with me!

Are Lenten Services really for Kids?

It seems that every year Advent and Lenten services hit me the wrong way.  Maybe cause it seems that it is a service for adults with few children- normally mine and by the time the service has ended my children are tried and cranky and not wanting to be there.  But every year it seems I drag them to the service, because I need to be there.  I need that time to communion with God, to listen to His word, to sing His praises.

Instead of feeling fulfilled, I feel flustered cause I am not sure what my kids got out of it, and I send my time trying to keep my children quit so they don't disturb those worshiping around them.  So days I wonder whats the point, all these people here have forgotten what it is like to be parents.  Ah I know they have not forgotten, but when a service is only for adults, with not even a children's bulletin of anything special for them to say, "hey you are important to us we are glad you are here-all are welcomed in the house of the Lord"

Instead I get the old people walking down going-"ssshhhh"  It is tiresome.  Of course I want them to behave, but I would rather have noisy kids who listen and get something out of the service.
Tonight, one child is laughing, the other making noises, I felt like all I was doing was shhhing them.  While I know I wasn't the only other family dealing with their kids "stuff", by the end of the service I found my self just laughing.  Cause here is Isaiah (4), with the hymnal open, singing as loud as he can making up his own words as we go along!

I just laughed cause sometimes I worry about what everyone is thinking, and at that moment, it was like God was saying, "don't worry about what everyone else is thinking!  You bring your children to worship Me.  Regardless of how cranky or tired, snotty or rude, giggle or quiet noise maker (darn those pencils sometimes are noisy), regardless of how many potty trips are taken or drinks to the water fountains, they are hearing My Word.  They are hearing My Word that fills them up, and even if they wonder about Me or even say I don't exist, then you keep bringing to Me.  I am all that matters in this church tonight.  Worship Me. "

I find myself sighing, and as always agreeing with Him.  I mean when is God wrong?    Yes Lord, regardless of everything, my job is to bring them to You.  Isaiah reminded me that tonight when he bolted out that hymn! "Train a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."  Proverbs 22: 6.

So yes, Lenten Services really are for Kids!

Video Game Cords-before and after

I hate cords! They get all tangled! And our video games just got crazy! No one could play cause no one wanted to untangle them.
Well one day at Staples I found the Martha Stewart collection and found these cord labels/rubber band! Awesome!!
So before





-After





The little tags look like this





I have not labeled these cause I can't find my Sharpie marker.

I wonder what else I can use the for?

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Take Me Out To the Ball Park

Yes it has begun.  Baseball and Softball season.  And this year we have 3 kids playing.  Isaiah is starting T-ball, AnnieQ is in her second year of soft ball and Robby is starting his sixth year of baseball.  It is hard to believe that for the last 6 springs our lives have been consumed by baseball.  I remember Robby at his first practice.  Oh may, he was very not ready for t-ball.  He didn't know how to throw a ball, how to catch it, his focused was not base ball.  We struggled a lot that first year.  It was all new.  And to top it off, we were brought onto the team that had won the t-ball championship the year before.

Through out the years we have learn a lot about balancing the time of year.  Like practicing throwing and catching at a young age.  Isaiah will be walking in with no issues at all, other than listening and following instructions -common at that age.  But he has hitting down, better than a few years ago when he didn't know which end was up!

I think that he will do better now that he know which end to hold the bat at!  Some what are some things we have done to help them learn.

• We bought a bag of tennis balls.  For the little ones this was to help the throw and catch.  (we also have a new puppy so she had a ball chasing all the balls.  Also the bright yellow helps eye hand coordination for the tee.  Now that the season has begun, we will start replacing them with the balls they will learn to use.  
• We have high walls in the back of the house.  When Robby was little I drew a big circle, then a smaller one.  I told him to aim for the middle circle.  
• Simple throw the ball up in the air to catch it.  They love doing this!  

 The other aspect of baseball season is being prepared.  I have ides on how to keep three uniforms together-cause something always goes missing!  Also having to work on meals on the go!  We are going to be living at the park so we need to make it the best time while there.

Milk

For a week we are doing respite care for two little ones.  A humorous adorable little 3 year girl, who asked if I was potty trained and a snugglable little boy who has just turned two.  We have taken care of them before last year for a few days.  When they were dropped off by their foster parents we were given a gallon of milk from Wal-Mart.  When you have little ones in foster care you get Wic to help with some food.  So the gallon of milk came in and was put into the refrigerator.  Not a thought about it.



Robby asked the next day "What is this?" (note he was the one who put it into the refrigerator for me).  "Milk," I said.

 "Are you sure I can drink this?" Robby inquired.

"I'm sure"  He stands there for a moment.

"What's wrong Robby?"

"I'm not sure about the milk?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It looks different."  Robby said.

I looked at the gallon- "It is the same kind of milk-2% milk we drink-just the packaging is different."





Who knew the just the color and the way the label looks affects kids.  The milk we get from Costco also looks a lot like the Krogers milk with the dark blue label so it never really affects the kids.  But for some kids it does!  I had to let him know every time he used it yesterday that this milk was the same as the other milk.  I can't imagine what would happen if I changed the % of the milk!  Different color caps!

Why do they lie?

I had noticed that syrup bottle was under the dinning room table, open with chocolate over the floor.  "Isaiah!" I yelled sounding like Dave from Alvan and the Chipmunks.
A few minutes later Isaiah walks in.  "What mommy?"
Me-pointing to the bottle on the floor "did you do this?"
"No." Isaiah replied so quickly.
Me-trying not to laugh and hold my ground as a stern mom "Isaiah, did you open one of the new bottles of chocolate  syrup?"
 "No, I don't know who did it."

Now I have to stop here and tell you that not only did he have chocolate syrup all over his face, it was on his shirt, arms and legs.  So I walked him into the bathroom and had him look in the mirror.
"Isaiah-a lie is when you don't tell me what really happened.  So I need you to tell me again, did you open up the chocolate syrup bottle?"  Isaiah just smiled and said "Yes"

We go through this all the time with him and his sister.  Sometimes I know the answer and I am looking for them to tell me the truth.  Other times I don't know what really is the truth, so I don't know what to think.  Most of the time they pull this "she did it" "no I didn't he did it."  So what to do.

Children lie.  Some more than others.  When the are young they are still learning the difference between their world and the imaginary world they create.  Also at four years old kids are learning what guilt is.  Guilt is something that as it develops kids learn the difference between right and wrong.  They start developing a conscience.

I remember when my 10 year was about 6 or 7.  He was going to a VBS and he stoled a little toy plane.  He came to me that night and confessed that he had done this and was tormented.  To this day he still brings this event up in his life.  He knew he had done something wrong.  He doesn't still always tell the truth, but it doesn't normally take long for the truth to come out.  But some of my other kids, telling the truth is not always as easy.

Some kids miss these steps in their development.  Many kids that come from broken homes, on the streets or foster care- they miss huge developmental stages early on and since these stages are like building blocks when one is missed it is hard for kids.  Sometimes this leads to serve cases of Attachment Disorders.  Other times it just takes years of consistency of filling in those missing building blocks.

We tell all our kids that lying is not ok.  When you lie to us we lose trust in them and it is not always easy to gain back.  But for a younger child it is not about trust, but more on our part about training.  We are training our kids to teach them right from wrong.

What are ways you teach your kids your kids not to lie?

AnnieQ

We have only had AnQuenette AKA AnnieQ in our house for three years now.  We already had two of her brothers, so the placement of her and her sister Mia seem like the right thing at the time.  It was a two week placement.  While I am not going into much of the story (for a later blog) Ms. AnnieQ AKA Sassy Pants by her little brother Isaiah, has brought a lot of joy and happiness.  The road is not always easy, but the rewards are great!  She just turned 6 two days ago and I wanted to share a bit with you.  While all my other children I had that moment when I first met them, AnnieQ I don't.  I never saw her at the visits early on.  She must have been almost two the first time I met her.  She was three when she moved into our home.  Four when we adopted her, and now she is six!  In some ways I feel like I didn't get enough of her, that she is growing up to fast.  But here is a little of how she is growing up....

A Boxer?

Today we took Sophie to the vet.  She is 13 weeks old and weighs 20 lbs already!  She is going to be big.  All checked out great!  The vet thinks she is mix Lab and boxer.  We had guessed lab, but was being told maybe some German Shepherd in her.  But he doesn't see the German Shepherd.  So I came home and research Lab and Boxers....who some call Boxadors.  Cute and funny!  From what I have seen and read this is a amazing family dog and most people were very happy with theirs!  Since we also do foster care I wanted to make sure we have a good dog to handle kids that may come in and out.  And it seems we may be gotten her! She plays well with all of them!  For as much as I resisted getting a dog, glad we have Sophie!

Just one of the kids!

Mother may I?

When I was coming home from picking up my 4 year old I finally really understood the game "Mother may I."  After 10 plus years of being a parent, the concept became perfectly clear.  On the way home Isaiah kept asking, may I have a spicy sticks (aka slim jims).  "Yes" I would reply.  "May I have two?" Isaiah would ask.  "No" I would answer.  "Uggg I hate you", me " Love you" I would say.  "May I have chocolate coin?"  "No" The "May I's" continued for the whole way home.  Trying to see what he could do, and what he could get away with.

Mother may I take a nap....yes but for only 6 minutes!

Nativity role-play masks

This year our kids Christmas program is called Imagine.  It focuses on how kids love to role play the stoies.  Costumes are simple just masks or head pieces.  Truthfully it is simple cause there is not a lot of time to pull off something big.  But small or big it will be great cause the story being told! 
While getting ready I have been looking high and low for simple sheep and cow masks.  And I finally found them.  I found them at Sparklebox.  I have use them many tiems, they are a UK based web page with awesome resources for teachers and hoemschoolers.
As I was looking Robby was complaining that there were no "speaking parts" and thinks we should created a Christmas kids club to work on next years program.  Now that is one thinking ahead kid and maybe we will do that!!

Family T-shirt idea

So I've had this crazy idea about making us family T-shirts. While I still haven't done the ones I have in mind I wanted matching T-shirts for the kids while on vacation. So I got some red t-shirts on clearance for a $1 and got two little ones and a pink one at Hobby Lobby. Was thinking I could do a printed Iron on I found these embroidered letters. When I got home I thought I need a little more, so I pulled out stencils, and fabric crayons and markers. With a little trail and error this is what I came up with.




-




I have two foster boys so I stenciled their last name first letter.









AnnieQ's was my trail and error shirt. Fabric crayons did not work, markers did.









Yes I didn't want him to feel left out!




Together enough, but slightly different. That's us...too bad I didn't make mommy and daddy shirts:) (ps sorry some pictures are not so good!)




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Grounded

I have 6 kids in my house, from 4-17.   And with each child comes a unique discipline plan.  Some of them are easy going, and don't get into trouble too much.  Others are in trouble daily,  and other seems to bring it on in heaps at a time.  One thing is for sure, there area consequences of actions in our house.  If you break a rule, there are consequences.

Our 4 year old little boy is testing boundaries right now.  He has a little bit of an anger issue going on when he gets caught.  So we had to get really strict right now with him.  He only gets one warning.  When things calm down we will slowly release the reins.  We do spank Isaiah because he responds to that.  

Our 5 year old little girl has gotten her first grounding.  She gets time outs, and when her "fun bubble" is bursted she has huge melt downs,  I just put her in her room and let her scream, and scream...and scream!:)

Our 9 year old boy has "attitudes" that need a "time out" to calm down.  Most of the time he is really good, but every now and then he just needs a time to reflect.

Our 17 year son losses privileges.  Most of the time he doesn't even understand why, but this is normal for teenagers.  Communication is a big thing, he will lose cell phone usage, computer usage, and other things.  With him it is always hard to define what grounding is for what because he always seems to group getting into trouble all at once.  

Each of our foster boys we deal with in basic discipline, re guiding. 

For the younger kids we use time outs, a minute pre year.  

Some days this gets exhausting.  It seems I correct and guide more than I do other things.  But over all, I feel good about taking my kids out.  Most of the time they behave well.  My favorite time is when they tell me I am grounded. And I think "YES"!  I am going to my room and chill!  But never does my groundings last long!

A trick to surviving headaches with young kids!

It is no secret I get headaches.  Sometimes they are days in a row, others it is here and there.  The one bad thing is they wipe me out for the day and sometimes a day or two after.  What makes it worse is when you have little ones that you still need to keep an eye on.  Well I have figured out a trick to make me feel better and to keep them entertained!
First I have them brush me hair.  They love to do this regardless.  But it just feels good on my head.  And recently I have let them start rubbing lotion on my arms, hands, legs and feet.  They LOVE this.  I even dosed off today while they did this!  AnnieQ even did a facial.  I think that I have about 100 layers of lotion on today and am very moisturized!  And smell good!

Update on Fostering...

As some of you know, we have two little foster boys, 9 and 4.  They are brothers, from a sibling group of 5.  We have had Brandle for over two months now.  Michael just moved in last week unexpected then.  So far the transition with Michael has been good.  The kids play well together.  Well we do have spats now and then but what siblings don't!
 Having them has helped my kids grow a little too.  When Brandle moved in Robby and Isaiah were sleeping together.  While I was fine with it, Robby was not sleeping well cause Isaiah was hogging the bed and waking him up early.  We had bunk beds and Robby didn't want anything to do with the top bunk.  But when I told them Brandle was coming, they moved to their other beds with no problems.  Now since Michael has come, Isaiah has gotten a little bit better about staying in his bed.  I had heard Michael had issues with going to bed and staying in bed in the middle of the night.  So I knew I had to go in strong with a bed time rhythm.   On day four and so far we are good.  Michael is going to sleep in his bed and Isaiah is staying in his bed for the most part after we put him there.  AnnieQ has gotten other privileges since she is about 6 months older than the boys and the only girl in the bunch!  She is sharing the room with Michael and loving it.
While having now 6 kids comes with more laundry and making more food it hasn't been over whelming.  It is like a puzzle to see with system will work.
For example...getting 8 people out of the house on a Sunday...key put out clothes the night before.  This helps the flow of everything in the morning.  Now if I was more organized I would have the shoes laid out too, but instead I am messing around on the computer:)  
So we will get through the weekend and see how things go!
Happy 4th of July!

Disasters and Kids

This last week has set many of our local children in memories that most kids just read about.   But many of our kids have lost their homes, roofs, trees, and some family.  Kids handle this lost, this grief differently.
When we have storm warnings, the younger kids ask "What if our toys get blown away?"  "We can replace toys, we can't replace you, so our job is to keep you safe"  After the storms last Wednesday, we lost the big tree in our back yard.  This was the tree that Robby and my kids have grown up with.  It wasn't one of the back row trees just blocking the view of our neighbors.  This was the one that when Robby was 4 the branches hung to the ground and they made forts our of them, the tree he tried climbing, the tree where he found an Indiana arrow head.  To him this tree was special.  His response was he cried when he saw it, just sobbed.  The two younger ones didn't understand, but Isaiah just put his hand on his back and rub it.  Jeremy, being a teen, said to just get over it.
As we walked around the neighborhood, Robby said this was the worse day ever.  I said this was a good day compared to others.  Robby and Jeremy went with Dan to Athens, the saw part of the path of the tornado, Robby came home and said we were lucky to have our house.
The three younger ones wanted to know about tornados and how they worked.  Robby has an idea, but I happened to have three weather workbooks from one of the local TV stations we picked up from kids days somewhere.  Just right for the moment.  (homeschooling mom's mind, hands on learn:))
My oldest acts like this was all no big deal.  But having 7 days of no power, I am sure brought back some memories of his past with no power cause mom had no money to pay the bill.  But he has a strong desire to help.  He wanted to get the tree down as soon as possible.  While we have tried to find a spot for him to volunteer more, somehow that always fell threw....but there is many opportunities coming up...

But one thing is for sure, my kids want to help, and I love their servant hearts.

So some resources to help kids.

http://www.ldr.org/care/children.html
http://www.fema.gov/kids/dizkid1.htm
Coloring book "After the Tornado"
Fema and Redcross Coloring book
http://www.aap.org/disasters/index.cfm
Red Cross
Many Links to other resources

Resources for teens
Tips for Helping Adolescents
Teens Coping
talking-to-teens-about-natural-disasters

Our next steps,  making sure the kids know we are prepared.  We will collect our flashlights again and make sure they work.  Make sure that they know we have a plan and all is fine.  Restock the little bathroom again, make sure our weather radio still works, (it didn't work this last time)  Making sure we have our radios in a good place.  As a foster home we need to also have this ready again.  It's been awhile since we had it posted.  So it is time to have them ready and posted again.
Share any more resources you may have!

AnnieQ's Room-Before and After

When we moved here 7 years ago, the middle bedroom became Robby's.  It was the first room we painted, yellow and blue, with trucks, every where.  On one side we painted a chalk board, which is really cool (next time I will think hard on the placement of it!:)).  I loved that room.  As years went on, Isaiah, joined Robby in that room.  Then the girls came and I had two toddler beds and a crib.    As we saw our family growing, we knew we needed our other bedroom to be a bedroom and not an office.  So the dance of the rooms is in progress.  We moved the bunk-bed into the boys room and I began the task of de-junking the room, then stripping the wall paper down.    I almost can't believe the room was as bad as it was!!














But now it is together and I say I did it around $150.  We had the bed, headboard, which Dan attached to the bed.  I bought a bed skirt, the curtains, two canvas baskets at Target.  About $75.  The Disney bedspread we bought last year almost new at a thrift store for $6.  The wall canopy was given to us.  Some of the wall decorations I got at Hobby Lobby a few months ago for about $15.  The rest was spent on paint.  I didn't paint the blue...partly cause Isaiah's hand prints are on there, and I made blue work.  I still have some other thinks I need to paint pink, but I am done for a bit.  I still need to go through the selves on the wall, but until I get the boys room settled, I don't want to move that stuff.
This room also has the crib set up for any foster babies that may come our way.  It also transform into a toddler bed also.  The desk was Robby's a few years ago, he moved on to bigger ones, and I don't have a chair there yet, cause the chair will be used for other things, like climbing on to see things.  By next year the chair will end up in there.
So I think I did good!!  Can't wait for AnnieQ to see it, I have had the door lock for two weeks!!



























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