Characteristics

Compassionate, Sympathetic, Empathy, Loving, gentleness, Sincere are but a few of many characteristics I want my children to have. One of the ways I have been able to teach them a few is through there interaction with our pets and smaller children.
We have gone over how we need to take care of our pets, remember to feed them, and love them. We talk about how they have feelings too.
In our house it's a common fact that, babies need love to grow. That we need to protect them and care for them. We can do that by being gentle, giving them our OLD baby toys, wrapping them in soft blankets to sleep etc...
So I am always very happy and feel like I've sorta succeed when I catch my kids doing things that express any of the for mentioned characteristics.


Jasey early in the morning loving Taz on the couch.


C.J. playing with cousin Camden

Good Choice

I constantly tell my kids "These are your choices", "That wasn't a good choice" or "That was a good choice". So when we were heading to the library the other day and I was trying to gather everything, I specifically told C.J. opening the front door wasn't a good choice. I went to the bathroom, and came out to the front door open and the two of them sitting on the porch waiting. C.J. looked at me and says "Mom, we weren't running in the street, we are sitting here waiting on the porch. That's a GOOD choice."

School

Today they did health screenings at C.J.'s school, he passed everything as I thought he would. He was also the weather reporter today, when asked what the weather was like, he replied "Good and Sunny". He is continuing to have happy morning drop offs and wonderful pick ups.
Sissy is doing better, she still repeatedly says "C.J. bye-bye?" almost like she needs reassurance that we are coming back to get him, and I didn't just give him away. So I tell her 10 times on the way to the car. Yes, C.J. is at preschool and we will come get him later. Yesterday at our Mommy and Me toddle time, we sang a couple new hand songs: thumb-kin and thumbilina. We also danced with tambourines and maracas. We made our own maracas out of plastic Easter eggs filled with beans and then taped shut. She had a lot of fun. She left me to go play when we first arrived and participated more. She went the whole hour without her pacie!!!! For us that's a huge thing. We ended the afternoon by going for a walk with grandma, nothing like fresh air to wear a child out.

Tradition

I am very proud to say that our young family does have many family traditions. I LOVE doing things as a family. I love seeing their faces as they do new things. So Halloween is on it's way and we decided this year will be the first year of a new family tradition. Because we feel our kids are finally old enough to Carve pumpkins and roast pumpkin seeds. I know we started early, but it had been eons since Chris and I had done this so we needed a trial run.

First we got all the guts out.


Then we transferred the stencil.


Or draw on the face.


Then we cut out the pieces, while others (cj) enthusiastically stabbed the pumpkin parts.



Ta-Da!!

This was the first time I had ever attempted to roast pumpkin seeds. So I went online and found an awesome recipe. First I washed all the pulp off the seeds, then I dried them with my hair drier and finally mixed them with the seasoning.
I used

4 tbsp Butter
2 tbsp Worcestershire
1 tbsp Garlic Salt

Then I placed them in my oven on a cookie sheet at 275 degrees for 10 minute increments, every time shifting them around, until dry. They are SO good.

Tattoos

Chris and I both have tattoos. This month the Mcdonalds toy has a fake tattoo with it. C.J. was so excited to have it put on. Right on his chest like daddy. For the rest of the day he is refusing to wear a shirt. He keeps telling me he's just like dad now!

Reading

I love to read, anything and everything. I could spend my life savings on books and be happy. One thing I want for my kids is for them to also love reading and to read well. We read everyday and visit the library 1-2 times a week. I try and buy my kids books that correspond with holidays so that during October we read Halloween books, during thanksgiving we red thanksgiving books so forth. Along with reading whatever else we want. I notice my son learning to love reading and learning so many things from the books we read. Right now we seem to be reading every single insect book the library has to offer. C.J. will readily tell you how many legs a spider has, that they are not bugs they are insects, that this bee makes honey and that ant is a worker ant. I enjoy knowing that through reading he is enjoying learning.

We know reading with kids is important, we are told that all the time. Heres the proof:

The early Childhood Longitude Study found that children who were read to at least three times a week as they entered kindergarten (http://www.education.com/grade/kindergarten/?_module=DeepLink&hit&id=8502)

76% has mastered the letter-sound relationship at the beginning of words, compared to 64% of children who were read to fewer then 3 times a week.

57% had mastered the letter-sound relationship at the end of words, compared to 43% who were read to fewer then 3 times a week.

15% had sight-word recognition skills, compared to the 8% who were read to less then 3 times a week.

5% could understand words in context, compared to the 2% who were read to less then 3 times a week.

sad :(

Some times I wish I could adopt all the lonely neglected children in the world. Maybe one day, but not now.

For now I can try to make a difference in the children's lives that I am in. I would love to one day adopt when my own kids are much older, but for now I don't have the support I would need. still my heart breaks for those little ones with no one to call their mom or dad.

I applaud the amazing people out there who are able to make such a difference, who are able to rescue children from destitute situations.

My friends Adeye is amazing and I encourage all of you to visit her blog www.nogreaterjoymom.com and read her last couple entries. Such a selfless person. If only our world had a few more.

Fall

As the summer days near and end we are spending more and more time outside. trying to soak up the very last of the summer warmth before it fades away.

Yesterday I took the kids to the park, where we found a trail that we followed into the woods. C.J. called it our adventure.Today we played out side with our best friends Quinn and Ryder. I love that my kids have friends and I love watching them play together.We are blessed with many aspen trees in our yard, so it's easy for my to talk to the kids about fall and point out the changing leaves and to pick up the fallen ones.




Jasey and her friends Ryder playing outside in their Wonder Pet capes.




C.J. and Jasey posing by a tree in out back yard. They just look so thrilled as I once again try my hand at photography.

This is my job

As I've said before this is my job, parenting is my 24/7 dedicated job. This is something I want to succeed at, to consistently get better at.

Do you realize we go to school for 12 years, so we can be competent adults. Then many of us continue onto college to get degrees in areas of interest so that we can know what we are doing and do it well.

Yet, anyone can have a kid. Anyone can raise a kid without ever baby-sitting, taking a class. In essence not knowing a thing about it.

Currently recommending: www.carecourses.com

What do you do on a cold day?

What do you do on a cold day when you have a pair of crazy four yr old.s? You turn them into superheros and let them fight all the ninja's.

C.J. and his friend Quinn, C.J. is spider man.



Who says boys can't play dress-up?