Just for Mom Friday

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him.  I Samuel 1:27

I have this scripture on a small plaque hanging in my kids' room.  It was given to me by a friend when I was pregnant with my son.  At the time, it has a different meaning for me than it does now.  But I've come to find that it has a much deeper and richer meaning now that I'm a parent.

This has been a long week.  I went back to volunteering at the YMCA after my maternity leave was up.  My son started play gym classes again.  And we've all come down with the flu.  So this mother's patience has been in short supply.  I didn't realize how short till yesterday afternoon.

Despite the flu and colds moving through our house, I was attempting to go through baby clothes and set some aside for a friend.  The baby was laying on the floor under her gym, and my son was playing in the toy box.  The phone rang and picked it up.  While talking with a friend, my son decided to LAY on his 7 week old sister.  Knowing that he was simply trying to play with her, I removed him and gently reminded him that she isn't as tough as he is.  However, his rough housing continued till I got off the phone and put him in time out.  Once there, the battle didn't stop, as he tried to walk away from time out several times and the baby suddenly wanted to eat.

In the midst of this toddler struggle while nursing, I glanced at the wall and saw this scripture.  "I prayed for this child..."  In the heat of the moment, I read it sarcasitcally.  Yeah, I prayed for this child, but I didn't pray for this behavior.  It was then that the Lord convicted me.

 This was the child that I prayed for.  This was the child that the Lord had granted me.  And he gently, but firmly reminded me that he would never give me more than I could handle.  So this was it.  He also reminded me of all the good things that have come from being a mom to this fiesty two year old: a gentler tongue, more consideration for other people, doors that have opened to share my life and faith with complete strangers, not to mention the joy, excitement, and unexpected surprises that my son brings to our family.

Nothing was left for me to do but plow through the power struggle, give my son a hug afterwards, and tell the Lord, once again, that I will trust him.  This is the child I prayed for.  I may not see it everyday, but the Lord knew what he was doing when he blessed us with this little boy.

Around the Home Thursday

Wow!  We've been hit by flu.  So in an effort to conserve energy and help you fight off the flu this season, I'm posting a link for some homemade cleaning products that are safe for the environment.  

http://organizedhome.com/pantry-recipes-homemade-cleaning-products

Activity Wednesday

This activity goes along with our letter of the week: A!

Apple Print Craft

Materials:

Apples

Paper Towels

Shallow Dish

Construction Paper

Paint

Instructions:

Cut the apple in half.  Experiment with your apples by cutting them different ways.  Cut through the top and out the bottom to make a "traditional" apple print.  Cut through the middle to make "star" prints.  With Valentines Day coming, why not cut your apple into a heart shape?  An apple cut in quarters will give you a new print

Fold a paper towel into 4th and lay it on the bottom of your shallow dish.  Pour paint into the center of the paper towel to make a stamp pad.  Use red, green and yellow to represent the different kids of apples.  Dip the cut side of the apple into the paint.

Dab it around on the paper towel to wipe off excess paint, and then press onto paper.

Try using other fruits as well: oranges, lemons, pears, etc.

You can also use fabric paint and make prints onto T-shirts, towels, etc.

You can find this activity at: http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/applecrafts/a/blapprint.htm

Teaching Tuesday--A is for Alphabet

It's all about letter recognition in our house these days.  Noah can sing his ABC's with a little prompting, but has no idea what he's saying.  So we've started working on "The Letter of the Week."  I post the letter on the refrigerator and we continually review it as we go about our day.

Our letter this week is, of course, "A."  To begin, we posted our letter on the refrigerator at Noah's level.  It's also close to his LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Toy.  As we go about our day, we identify words that start with the letter "A": Annie (our cat), apple, avocado, accident, Alaska, etc.  We identify the word and the "A" sound.

We incorporated some of these items in our daily life this week, including apples and avocados, reading the Alaska book, playing with Annie, etc.  We've also taken a trip to the library and borrowed lots of "Arthur" books by Marc Brown.  Noah loves them.  So ever couple of pages we read, we point out the "A"s on the page.

There are numerous websites where you can find coloring sheets for the letters of the alphabet.  This is one we used this week:  www.preschoolcoloringbook.com

Menu Monday

I find that I always end up going to the store, buying a ton of groceries, then getting home with nothing to make for dinner.  I forget one or two essential items for every recipe and we end up ordering pizza.  So in an attempt to curb our spending habits and actually cook in my kitchen, I try to develop a menu at least every couple of weeks.  This is our menu for the week:

Monday:

cream of wheat, banana, milk

tuna sandwiches, wheat thins, carrots

Bowtie pasta with chicken and peas, salad, 

Tuesday:

Toast with jelly, peaches, milk

Grilled cheese sandwiches, oranges, 

Chile relleno casserole, corn, salad

Wensday: 

Yogurt, granola, milk

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, avocado

Pea soup, french bread

Thursday:

Cream of wheat, pears, milk

Egg salad sandwiches, tricuits,  tomato

Lentil Tacos

Friday:

Oatmeal with berries, milk

Tuna sandwiches, tomato, cubed cheese

Homemade pizza, salad

Saturday:

Gingerbread waffles

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, yogurt, bell pepper strips

Messy Guisseppes, salad

Sunday:

Apple and Cinammon muffins

Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup

Stuffed bell peppers

Snacks:

Triscuits

Yogurt

Cottage cheese

Goldfish

Wheat Thins

Granola bars

Pudding

Graham Crackers