April Fool's Day

I just wanted to start by saying Happy Birthday to my Dad!  I'm glad you had a fun day with yummy food!  Wish we could have been there to celebrate with you!  We are looking forward to seeing you soon!

April Fool's Day.  I'm not a big one for playing pranks, though I will do some.  This is probably because I don't really like them played on me.  I don't really think I can expect to initiate them and not get them back.  However, I did start the day with a small one.  I added green food coloring to Joshua's cereal bowl and then put the measured cereal on top.  I then put a measuring cup with his milk beside it for him to add when he was ready.  He added the milk and began to eat.  I snapped a couple of pictures.  He continued to eat.

I left and did a few more things and then walked back to Joshua and asked if he had looked at his cereal.  He did.  He said nothing.  Rebecca and I are giggling at this point, but not really sure what to do with him.  I speak to Joshua again and ask what he thinks of his milk.  He looks again and notices that it is green.  (I'm not sure if the color doesn't show up as well because he is colorblind???)  Finally he asked why his milk was green and I was able to say April Fool's Day.  LOL  This worked really well for those looking for a fun prank.

We had co-op this morning (more on that in another post).  Rebecca went with her arm in a sling.  (She is one that does like pranks.)  She is so sweet that you just want to believe all that she tells you!  She also had plans for dinner.

During the afternoon, Christopher (who also likes pranks) struck with a few of his own.  The first one involved the computer.  I was trying to print something for school and the mouse/buttons/etc just weren't working right.  So I rebooted.  It does fix a lot of problems.  I called Christopher down and he was already chuckling.  He has done something to the mouse to switch the buttons - the left button did the functions of the right button and vice versa. 

He had more computer tricks up his sleeve too.  He put black tape over the bottom of the mouse to make it non-functional.  Thankfully I was able to figure that one out on my own.  He also messed with the icons on the home page and made them all "images" instead of icons so that they didn't work.  He also put the buttons in different places.  He told me that Daniel was able to figure out how to get to his game though!   Way to go Daniel.

Rebecca worked hard on dinner.  This was all her plans from finding the menus to helping shop last night.  She made wormy apples.

And cupcakes. 

We told the boys that since it was Papa's birthday that we were starting with cupcakes.  They loved this idea!  The skepticism came quickly though when they looked at their plates.

Isaiah looked at his plate and quickly stated "This is not a cupcake".  Once he found out that there was meat in it though, he was very excited!

Daniel was skeptical too and took a cautious nibble to see what it was.

Joshua tested some of the "frosting" and told us that it tasted like potatoes.

It was meatloaf on the bottom and tinted mashed potatoes on top.  It was really  yummy too!!!  Most of us really enjoyed them.  Daniel was just not convinced though.

It was a fun day and we are thankful for the time to laugh and play outside and just spend time together as a family.  I hope your day was filled with fun too!

Love
Leslie

Enjoying the beautiful spring day!

Today I thought we'd do a little something fun.  I had not taken Rebecca to an optional function and was feeling a little guilty.  I thought I'd make it up by treating everyone.  I encouraged them to work to finish their schoolwork and we would go have a picnic lunch at a park.

We worked and then we focused on heading out.  To top off some school frustration, some arguing and not listening was added in.  I felt my frustration rising.  By the time we all finally got in the car, I was really aggrevated with them.  And I let them know it too.  :-(  I had promised to take them out though and I want to make sure I keep my promises.  I will say that I didn't want to however. 

Why is this such a struggle sometimes?  Why can't I just go with the flow, let things roll off my back and not get so frustrated?!  Even yesterday as I was praying, I asked God to help me be more patient and then even clarified that I didn't need additional opportunities to practice patience as the days had enough of those!  LOL

We picked up lunch and headed to the park and it was a beautiful sunny day!  Windy too.  As soon as we stepped outside, I could feel my frustrations melting away and I apologized to my children.  I know it's good for them to have me apologize, but I sure wish I could get things right with them all the time.  I know that I would be unbearable then as this surely keeps me humble.

After lunch, the children played some on the playground.  (I should mention that Christopher stayed home to work, though he was also given the option of coming with us.) 

Then we went for a hike on a piece of the American Tobacco Trail that is near our house.  Its a lovely walk and I hope to make this a regular part of our weeks - hiking, biking or searching for geocaches.  I want to enjoy the lovely weather before it gets so very hot.

Isaiah found this large stick at the beginning of the walk and carried it the entire time!

We saw some beautiful flowers and stopped to get a closer view.

And my camera got me even closer.

Next time we'll need to bring our nature notebooks and make a drawing.  Of course, then I'll need to figure out what things are and I'm terrible at that!  Any suggestions for helping me?

On our way back, Joshua felt low.  We stopped and tested him.  53.  That came out of nowhere.  I'm so glad he felt it!  I do hope that he will get to where he can feel all of them as I would hate for one to go unchecked.

I'm thankful we have the flexibility to go outside and enjoy God's creation.  I'm thankful that God loves me and is quick to forgive me.  I'm thankful that my children are too.  I'm thankful for my precious family and that I get to spend so much time with them.  Thank you God for blessing me abundantly.  Give me your eyes to see and your heart to love that I might live more fully.

Blessings

Leslie 

JDRF Easter Egg Hunt

Yesterday we went to the JDRF Easter Egg hunt.  I had hopes of meeting some other kids there, but honestly it was hard with moving from activity to activity.  Its alright though as it was fun anyway!  I'm hoping maybe a picnic or something will be coming up with more opportunity to just hang out.  We'll see.  I know God will provide all that we need and I'm trying to just be content with that.

The weather was threatening all day - but thankfully the rain  held off and we were able to have a fun time!  We arrived and checked in and there were lots of different activities to enjoy.  There were bags to decorate (in case you didn't bring a basket).  We had baskets and none of mine wanted to decorate bags (no surprise there!).

There were balloons and my boys each chose to have one made into a sword.  LOL  No surprise here either. 

Eliana got a balloon flower.  She probably would have been happy with a sword too.

There were bubbles, hula hoops, chalk and face painting areas.  The hula hoops captured the attention of my crew.  I think it's been a long time since we've had a functioning hula hoop and this was fun.

They picked it up pretty quickly - well, some of them did.  Even Eliana wanted to try it out.

Soon it was time for the hunt and everyone lined up.

When it was time to go, it was chaos!!!  Things move so quickly that it is hard to get good photos!  The little children had playdoh set out in addition to the eggs.  Eliana was thrilled to get some "day-doh".

After the hunt, the kids showed us their eggs.

Then they looked inside to see what they had gotten.  It was a sugar-free hunt - so NO candy.  This was a bummer to one of mine, but I thought it was great.  They received stickers, little toys, chalk eggs, bubbles and play-doh.  As we sat down to look inside the eggs, we noticed a father walking up with his children and their baskets.  They had missed the hunt.

I quickly asked the boys if they could put some things back into the eggs (we had been asked to empty them and return the eggs) to give to these children.  I was glad that they were happy to do this and then go give the full basket to those children.  I stopped and talked with the Dad for awhile.  His little girl was just diagnosed a few weeks ago.  I was glad to have the opportunity to chat with him.

Next on the agenda was games.  I had no idea that there was going to be so much going on!  First up, were the sack races.  Mine loved this!

Even Eliana, who just walked in her sack.  (She had a great big sister helper with all of this too!)

They also did egg and spoon races.  If your egg fell off you had to go back and start again.  This was hard as it was really windy.

There was also an egg toss.  It was a plastic egg filled with birdseed and the goal was to move further and further from your partner without your egg cracking open.

After the races, there were prizes that you could pick out.  It was a fun afternoon.  I'm thankful for this organization and the volunteers behind it that work to help these kids have some "normal" fun.  So many holidays seems so focused on sugar and it can be hard to break these traditions.  I guess though, it's a good time to learn some new traditions that are better for all of us. 

In other diabetes news, we got a call today to schedule our pump training class.  It will be in mid-April with the doctor that we saw last time.  I was really hoping it would be with my favorite endo.  Oh well.  I'll let you know more when we get closer.  He should walk out that day with his pump functioning.  :-)  I'm nervous and excited at the same time.  Even as I write this, there are tears welling up.  Why do so many things make me teary?!  I didn't use to be this way.  LOL

Hope you are all having a delightful spring day!

with love

Leslie

Look what arrived!

Late last night, a large and heavy box was delivered.  Can you guess what it is?

Joshua was excited to open the box. 

At first glance, it isn't that exciting.  It's boxes and boxes of supplies.  (A three month supply)

 We had to look a little deeper in the box.  I love how it was packaged in a fun way.

This is it!  Joshua's pump.  The pump is on the left and the meter (or "Ping") is on the right.

The timing has gone pretty quickly in terms of the process of getting our pump.  I know we are fortunate on that front and know that this isn't the experience of everyone.  Now, we are waiting on a training session to occur with his doctor (I'm really hoping it's our favorite doctor!) and other people.  I'm really not sure who is to be in on this.  I was told when I called to set it up that it may take several weeks to get it coordinate.  I hope that they pick any day but our field trip day to do this!

We'll spend our waiting time learning.  Joshua has a workbook to go through to see what he knows.  This will be good for both of us to work through so that we understand as much as possible before he starts wearing the pump. 

I've already started reading the book Pumping Insulin.  There is a lot to take in!

We haven't quite finished with the box.

This is no light reading!  Its over 200 pages.  I think this will keep us busy until we are able to have our appointment!

Today was a beautiful day filled with lots of outside play time!  I also spent some time working on a chore system for our family.  I'm not finished, but have made good progress.  I need to do some training before we can hit this running, but that needed to be done and I'm hoping this will help us. 

I also spent time today shopping with Rebecca.  It was fun to spend time with her.  We also worked on our Bible study.  We are doing a study on the book of Esther and it's been wonderful!

God also blessed me in another way today.  This morning, my readings centered on anger.  It wasn't really something I planned, but after an incident with the boys, it was something I really needed.  I was able to have a really neat conversation with one of my boys about anger and what the Bible has to say about anger.  We also talked about how to deal with anger and made a plan.  I am so incredibly thankful that God prepared me for this time.  I know He probably wants to do this much more frequently with me if I only stopped and listened.  Today I listened and He blessed me!

We also faced a challenge tonight.  As I was serving dinner, Joshua checked the carbs on the package of rice for me.  The number seemed high and I asked him to check again.  He confirmed the numbers and we went with it.  I dosed him and he went back out to play.  In less than an hour, he told me he felt low.  He was 43.  His lowest number ever.  I'm so very thankful he felt it as I wouldn't have checked him for at least another hour.  We spent the next couple of hours working to bring his numbers up - but not send him sky high.  We read a book together and figured out where we had made a mistake.  Again, I'm thankful, so very thankful that this time he knew.  He doesn't always feel a low, but this time he did.  Thank you God for watching out for our boy!

Tomorrow we are going to an Easter  Egg hunt sponsored by the JDRF.  It's a suger free hunt!  I'm hoping that the rain holds off and even more I'm hoping that Joshua will be able to connect with another litlte boy with Juvenile Diabetes.  I would love for him to have a friend that understands what he is dealing with.  Even tonight as we were working through the low, he said "I hate diabetes".  I had to agree.  "Me too!"  It's a horrible disease that I never truly understood.  I never knew how hard it is to deal with on a daily basis.  Hoping and praying for a cure!

Hoping your tomorrow is a blessed one as we anticipate the Holy Week.

In His love

Leslie

Albert - FIAR Vol 4 Co-op

This happened a week ago, but was the same day as Daniel's eye appointment so I  haven't gotten it posted. 

We had another delightful day at co-op.  These are honestly some of my favorite days.  I love the creativity and energy put into it by the other moms.  I also love seeing the expressions of creativity by the children.  I always learn new things and just love spending a fun morning with friends!

As always, we start with reading the story.  We spend our time outside as often as weather allows.

The children had a discussion about illusion because in the story Albert, he checks the weather to see if it is a good day for going outside.  It is, until he hears a "bad noise" and then he decides to stay.  The excuse is the weather when in reality that isn't the real reason at all.  Isn't that a great thing to be talking about with children - to help them understand and deal with reality.

Miss Lynn had some examples of things that she partly showed them and then when they saw the entire thing, they realized that it was not as it had appeared.  Then they spent some time looking at some puzzles and optical illusions.

This is the book that was used and it is a really neat one!

In the story, when Albert holds his hand out to check the weather, a bird drops a twig in his hand.  Surprised, he stands there and watches as the mama and papa bird continue to drop sticks into his hand until a nest is built.  To explore a little about birds, each child was given a tag with a picture and description of a bird.  They could use this to talk and ask questions and share which bird they happened to be.

One of the highlights of the day was ... egg-speriments.  My boys loved this!

One of the experiments including observing what happened to an egg soaked in vinegar (a chemical reaction that causes the shell to be gone/absorbed (?) and turns the egg into a rubbery form that bounces.  Another demonstrated the strength of the egg shell.

Next, what happens to an egg when you light a match, place it in a bottle and place an egg on top of the bottle (blocking the entrance)?

The lighted match creates a vaccuum pulling the egg into the bottle.

Learning how to tell if an egg is boiled or not by spinning it, stopping it with your finger and then watching to see what it does.  (The raw egg starts spinning again due to the yolk still being in motion from the prior spinning.)

The children were given more pictures of birds while they looked at a poster with a variety of bird's nests on them.  They then took turns placing the birds with their nests.

The children were then given the opportunity to express themselves by decorating eggs.  They could chose to do one that had been "blown" or one that was hard-boiled.  They could use paint, markers, colored pencils, and/or tissue paper/mod podge to decorate the eggs.

Each egg was unique and different.  It's always a treat to see the children express themselves.  (And I had to try not to laugh when one of mine painted his egg ... white!)

The children played with some of the extra eggs with some making nests by the creek and others made

Egg bombs.   (One of those moments you don't envision when you first become a mom of boys!)

I just thought this was a neat picture of the egg flying through the air on its way to a tree.

The last lesson was on noise and how it moves through the air (waves) as well as the decibel level of various items.  The children learned about the effect of loud noises on their ears too.  Each child was given a slip of paper with a noise on it - from jet plane to a whisper and lots more.  Then then tried to guess the decibel level and were able to see if that item was at a sound level that was dangerous for their ears.

We finished with a yummy snack - egg, nuts, seeds. 

The children were given a cute little fabric nest for their eggs. 

Thanks Lynn and Vivian for a wonderful morning!  We had a blast!

Hope you enjoyed a peek into our day.

Blessings

Leslie