Sweep It Under The Rug

Every other Wednesday morning a husband and wife team comes to clean our house.

So every other Tuesday night we clean up before they come.

I know.

Ridiculous.

Don't ask.

Who in their right mind cleans up before the cleaning people come?

Don't get me started.

I just think it's easier for them to clean if toys and papers and dirty clothes and everything else is put away.

Anyway, I told Fletcher to go clean up his room while Kevin was bathing Luke. We finished bath time and were tucking the boys into their beds. Fletcher's room was "nothing but carpet", a phrase I often use with him to indicate that all I should see in his room is the carpet on the floor. But then I noticed a cardboard box in the corner of his room. He sometimes takes old cardboard boxes and makes them into "Star Wars houses." I lifted the box and there hidden in a neat pile were several of the toys that had been all over the floor earlier.

Then Kevin saw a light saber peeking out from under the bed. He pulled it out and then did an under-the-bed sweep with the light saber. Out came clothes, shoes, toys, silly bandz. Another sweep yielded pajamas, socks, and more toys. Yet another sweep brought stuffed animals, an old backpack and a paper from VBS. It was unbelievable how much stuff he had crammed under his bed. Kevin started laughing.

It is hard to discuss a punishable offense with the offending child when one parent is laughing.

Later that evening Kevin reminded me that we were six once too. I'm thankful for a husband who helps me find the humor in almost every situation. But now I know to be specific when I say "clean up your room."

First Day of Preschool 2010

Tuesday was Luke's first day of preschool this year. He is in a three year old class and goes three days a week (Tu, Wed, Th) from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm. I was a little nervous since he still has trouble when we leave him in the nursery at church. He cries for a few minutes then he is fine. This past Sunday he did not cry at all.

And I am happy to report that he didn't cry today when I dropped him off at preschool either. I read The Kissing Hand to him several times over the weekend. When we got to the parking lot, I made sure to kiss his hand and he kissed mine. I reminded him that "Mommy always comes back." When we got into the room, things were somewhat chaotic with everyone dropping off kids and supplies. He saw some familiar toys that he had played with at the open house last week so he went immediately to those. I said, "Have a good day, Lukie." I expected him to say, "Mommy, I want you" which is his code for "please do not leave me in this place." But instead he looked up and said, "Ok, bye Mom." I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. But I took that as my cue and left before he could change his mind!

When I went to pick him up, his teacher said he did a great job. He had a sticker on his hand and a smiley face drawn in his folder (both excellent signs in the preschool world). He said he had fun playing with his friends and playing on the playground. He showed me how they sit "criss cross applesauce" on the rug during circle time. Don't you love preschool?!

His backpack seems huge, but there's not much in it. Not sure if we'll leave the lunchbox clipped on the outside or shove it in the inside. So many decisions.

Hopefully, he will be excited to go back tomorrow!

Way Up High In The Apple Tree

We've lived in the Carolinas for almost 4 years now and I am still learning new things about this area. I knew there were apple orchards around here because we went to one last year on a field trip with Fletcher's school. But I had no idea NC ranked 7th in US apple production. Washington, New York and Michigan are first, second and third, respectively.

There's even a huge NC Apple Festival in Hendersonville every year to celebrate apple season. I thought apple season was closer to late October and November. Turns out many apple orchards have been open since early August!

So on Monday some friends from church invitied us to go with them to an orchard not too far from our home. It was a beautiful orchard in the foothills of NC. So beautiful that we spent most of the time ooohing and ahhhing over the scenery and picking the apples that we only took two pictures. Oops! We had to pick carefully since the crazy weather this year made many of the apples have bad spots on them. Fletcher was very good at carefully inspecting the apples before picking them. Luke had a little more difficulty with this. Plus, he was hot/tired/thirsty and hungry even though we had just eaten a full picnic lunch in the shade. My parental instincts tell me that he'd rather pick apples in the air conditioned grocery store. The orchard also had Asian pears which are sort of a cross between a pear and an apple. They had peaches too, but we opted not to get any of those since it was late in the season and they were almost all gone.

All of the trees weren't marked, but we think we ended up with some Galas, Jonagold, Golden Delicious, Mutsu, Honey Crisp and Ginger Gold. We ended up with 1/2 bushel of apples and 1/2 peck of Asian pears. I'll let you figure out how much a bushel and a peck are (and a hug around the neck). So now we have lots of apples. We read that apples will keep in the refrigerator for around 90 days. They ripen faster if they are left on the counter. I have a great recipe for pumpkin apple muffins and another one for apple bread. Fletcher has already asked for some in his lunch this week.

First Grade

In case you might be wondering what first grade will be like for Fletcher, here is the email his teacher sent us for the second week of school.

Welcome Back
We had a great first week of school. The students enjoyed seeing each other and did a good job of listening and following rules. Thank you for the honor of being with your children this year, and I thank you for your prayers.

Assembly and Bible
To start the year, Mrs. Dimmette talked about good habits and reviewed our Arborbrook Motto, which is “I am. I can. I ought. I will.” This upcoming week in Assembly, we will hear praise reports from students who went on mission trips over the summer. In Bible, we will read about the trials of Joseph. Our Bible verse is Psalm 9:11.

Math
In math, we have been practicing writing our numbers neatly to develop good habits in math so that we will not make careless mistakes. This week, we will be looking at squares, circles, angles, and graphs as well as practicing writing more numbers. Some students might have homework this week if they do not finish in class.

Language Arts
Did you know that as a teenager, Beatrix Potter had rabbit named Benjamin Bunny and that her brother gave her a bat for a pet? Each day, we have enjoyed hearing more about Miss Potter in The Beatrix Potter Journal. We also read The Tale of Johnny Townmouse, and will read the The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes on Tuesday.

In phonics and copywork, we reviewed the letter sounds and practiced writing letters. We began memorizing The Caterpillar by Christina G. Rossetti, and discussed the definition of a noun in grammar.

History and Inspirational Studies
While reviewing the world map, the students impressed Mrs. Trent with their knowledge of the continents of the world. They played compass tag to review the points of the compass and practiced finding their way through mazes. Next week, the students will ponder the question of “What is history?” and begin hearing about Leif Erikson.

For composer study, we listened to Felix Mendelssohn’s Wedding March that he wrote for Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream. Queen Victoria was the first person to have the piece played during her wedding. The students enjoyed acting out a wedding and walking out of our pretend church as they listened to the music.

Science and Nature Study
Your children already know about many swimming creatures! We made very long lists of ocean animals that they already know. Then, we talked about the different ways that animals move in the ocean as well as scientific classifications of animals such as mammal, reptile, fish, amphibian, and invertebrate.

In Nature Study, we took a walk on the trail and found special treasures.

This Week’s Assignments
Students will need to complete any math work at home if they do not finish it in class. Please check their math sheets each night. (We did not have math homework last week or this past weekend.)

Also, please spend 10 -15 minutes reading with your child each day. You should read to your child and also let your student try reading to you.

Students will receive their first spelling word list this Wednesday for a quiz on Tuesday, September 14.

Wow! They sure don't waste any time! I asked Fletcher if he knew what "spelling words" were. He said, "No." I gave him a few examples like cat, who, leaf. He asked if they would get harder and I told him that the following week he would have words like supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. He was not amused. I wonder why?

Dancing With The Stars

What can I say? Being raised in a true Southern Baptist home, we didn't do much dancing. Well that,and the fact that I don't have much rhythm. But a girl can dream.

I'm a sucker for a great video montage (and well planned flash mobs).

How many of the movies can you name?



Edited to add:
Here's a partial movie list (not necessarily in order of appearances) - Dirty Dancing,Flashdance,White Nights,Perfect,Saturday Night Fever,Blue Skies,Pulp Fiction,High Fidelity,Clerks 2,American Pie,Billy Elliot,Footloose,True Lies,Grease,Honey,Phantom of the Opera,Step up,Step up 2,Moonwalker,West Side Story,Moulin Rouge,Mary Poppins,7 Brides for 7 Brothers,Rocky Horror Picture Show,Strictly Ballroom,Happy Feet,Singing in the Rain,Fame,Fame2009,Save the Last Dance,Mamma Mia,Mask of Zorro,Coyote Ugly,Wild Hogs,Get Smart,Airplane, A Knights Tale

Well Said

One of the ladies from the Titus 2 group I met with this summer challenged us to be intentional about our parenting. She reminded us that we need to think about what we want our kids to look like (spiritually, emotionally, etc) when they are 30 and then parent accordingly. Too often we get caught up in the here and now trying to correct daily behavior issues (which is definitely needed) but forgetting about trying to develop their overall character. Our kids are watching how we spend our free time, how we spend our money, how we treat our neighbors and whether we prioritize our relationship with God. Much of what they see whether positive or negative will most likely become part of their own beliefs and behaviors.

I read a great article by Gregg Matte, pastor of First Baptist Church Houston. This quote stood out to me:

There will soon be a day when your children are out of the house and have to make their own decisions. A discerning heart lasts far longer than a hovering parent. We have to help that discernment develop. Discernment comes from teaching “why” – not just “what.”

I admit that I tend to be one of those "hovering parents" and I need to get out of that habit. As Fletcher gets older I know we can't always be there to help him (or force him) to make the right choices at school, on the playground, in the neighborhood or at church. But we can help him hide God's word in his heart and help him think about how Jesus would want him to act or respond in different situations.

What To Do On A Saturday

We have this tree in our front yard that hasn't been looking good for quite awhile now. It obviously has some kind of disease. Kevin decided that this past Saturday was the day to take it out. Of course, Fletcher and Luke wanted to help, as did a couple of the neighbor kids.

Luke was the only one smart enough to wear protective headgear.

Gotta love a sense of accomplishment on a Saturday morning. (I could mention that it took Kevin about 4 more hours to remove the stump, but I won't.)