Colorado Crockers

Sometimes I have an entire blog post written out neatly in my head, other times it is more "stream of consciousness. Today falls under that "other" category. I am visiting my best bud Jenny out here is Little Rock. Since we are in the South, we went to church on Sunday, least the McHam family get hunted down and tossed from the state for sacrilege. The church was a "big box" type, run like a machine, everything clean, punctual and polished. The sermon was about Nehemiah rebuilding Jerusalem. A couple of guys who didn't play well with other kept trying to get Nehemiah to come to a meeting to sort things out. As we all know, nothing important is ever accomplished by committee and Nehemiah declined. Over and over he said "no". He knew God had called him to do a work and he wasn't going to be distracted, even by something that was" good", because it wasn't the "best" of what God called him to do. This morning I was sitting...

This week I have been a lousy blogger and here are my excuses, you may choose the one that seems most valid: -My husband was gone. As he cruised the streets of Berlin and Milan, I was up with a baby who had a cold. -My operating level is somewhere between exhausted and comatose . I don't currently posses the intellectual capacity to type out witty banter. I hardly posses the ability to remain upright. -All energy I possess is going into my children, sad but true. My house is a testament to this. Sorry to leave you all hanging. Maybe if I get an hour or two of sleep I can think of a few sentences to string together.

Discuss: Bible- Proverbs 6:10-11 Sleeping when you should be working Do: Vocabulary-find all the "new" words we don't know (peddler, caps, etc) Discuss: Types-What kind of hats was he selling? What other kind of hats are there? Do: Art-Create our own hats out of paper Discuss: Emotions-Talk about all the ways the man felt Do: character-Show how we can handle each emotion in a right way. Play chrades and act our each feeling and let papa guess what it is Discuss: Ways to carry-Why did the man carry things on his head? What other ways can we carry things? See pictures of African Women Do: Large Motor-See how many hats you can balance on our heads while doing different activities Discuss: Math-Count hats of each color and monkeys Do: Money-Count out money and find all the different ways you can make .50 Field Trip: Zoo to visit the monkeys

I am an addict . I can't help it, is is something I have loved from a very young age. Books. I have shelves of them. I read several a week. I like true stories and mysteries, things that challenge my thinking or leave me dreaming. I have raised children that love books. Nothing makes us happier than sitting together with a new story. There is a curriculum out there called "Five in a Row" that is all based on quality children's literature. I have had the book for a while and just not gotten on the ball to use it. Matt knew it was driving me crazy so last week he gave me a couple hours to go to Barnes and Noble and get my act together. The idea is you pull from a story your science, math and literature concepts. it is a christian based book so there is some bible learning in there too. You read the same book for 5 days, each day you discuss something and do something. Here is our plan for this week: Book: The Runaway Bunny Discuss: Bible God's love is everlasting:...

My children are generally well behaved. Yes, they have there moments, as all children do, but over all they mind well. Except... We have been having this issue of "blowing mom off". I ask Eliana to do something and she willingly leaves the room to go do it. Five minutes later I go check to see if it is done and Eliana is doing something totally unrelated. I offer a gentle reminder about what the original task was and leave her to get to work. After checking back, the task is still uncompleted and I offer a stern warning. And so it goes for ten times longer than it should to get things done. I find this endlessly aggravating . Part of the problem is me. Eliana is 4. A VERY distractable 4 with two little sisters who add to the problem. Sometimes I need to give her a task and remove all " obstacles " (read: sisters) from her path so she can concentrate on finishing the job. But part, a large part, of this problem is with Eliana blowing me off and just not doing ...

at my house you will find: -3 little girls in their beds, all who should be taking naps, none who are. -1 crock pot full of pork spare ribs cooking in apple cider waiting to be grilled up for dinner - 6 baskets of laundry, some clean, some folded, some just waiting - 3 kittens, one black, one white, one gray, all naughty and dangerously cute - 1/2 a pan of brownies that was baked last night - 2 tubs of ice cream, chocolate and vanilla -7 shoes of various sizes in the hallway and yet not one that makes a pair -1 mug of half drunk, now cold, decaf coffee - 1 sink full of dishes and 1 full dishwasher because I forgot to buy stuff to make more detergent -4 un -made beds because in the grand scheme of things, making beds seems like such a waste of time -1 man, home for 7 days before he heads off to Canada, Italy and Germany -1 brand new dinning room table with 4 chairs and 1 bench And you will find me. A 30 year old teacher, mother of 3, wife to one, who has not had a full nights sleep in ...