I once read or heard somewhere that kids need to draw in spaces bigger than 8×11 sheets of paper.
I tucked that little nugget of info away and to be honest did absolutely nothing with it, till last week.
During one of our 3 sick days last week, I looked down at a brown bag and got inspiration!!
I cut the bag open much like you do when making book covers and gave each kid one half of a brown bag to draw on. They were so excited at the big space to draw in. And they loved the fact that white crayon showed up on brown paper. Equally exciting was the fact that it had a handle for hanging.
Classy, don’t ya think? No worries… this isn’t their permanent home. But they enjoyed the display for the day. And they loved carrying their pictures around all afternoon.
The girls had fun making loops and scribbling. It honestly was not their best art work, but they were enjoying the experience.
My son, however, became inspired. He drew a sunset beach scene which turned to night with stars. Can you see it? I was thrilled and am begging him to let me frame it as it is one of the best pictures he’s drawn. He drew sunsets all afternoon and told me how he wants to grow up and be an artist (so now he’s going to be an author, artist, astronaut, fireman, and “dinosaur digger”)
Next time they say paper or plastic, might I suggest you say “paper” as it’ll provide you with a delightfully easy backdrop for your little Picassos.
I saw this line on a tee shirt this weekend at the Annapolis 10 Mile and loved it. But, it cost $27 so I decided instead of buying the tee shirt, I’d make it my blog title.
Yea, I was so excited when I signed up back in June to run this race with my high school friends.
And somehow 3 months came and went and I ummm didn’t really train adequately for it. But, they did.
So, I ran/walk/ran/walk/ran 10 miles this morning.
And I finished.
But, ummm that’s really about all I can say about that.
Though I wrote two weekend thought blog posts in my head as I plodded along, one foot in front of the other, which I will share with you all the next 2 Fridays. Because deep thoughts are born in adversity, right?
Before: (minus Jami who was peeing at the time of this picture)
After: (minus Jen and Jake who left right after they finished so they could go and do nursery duty at church…amazing, huh, I went home and slept, they went to church and worked in the nursery).
The best part?
Hanging out at the park that evening enjoying fellowship, crabs, and steak)
…plus that fact that in just 4 days we’ll all be hanging out again (plus 2 other families) for our annual Labor Day Weekend Getaway together.
Have you ever experienced complete darkness? I’m not talking about shutting out the lights before you crawl under the covers, but total darkness. In our electronic world of LEDs, it’s something we don’t often experience.
During our time exploring Carlsbad earlier this week, the ranger brought us into a cavern 830 feet below the earth and shut off the lights. No flash lights. No matches. No floor lights. Nothing.
It was dark.
As in, total darkness.
As in, so dark I literally held my hand in front of my face and saw nothing.
Then she lit a match and suddenly that one match lit up the entire cavern.
It’s amazing how much light one match can put off. Honestly, I don’t know which struck me more, the black of darkness or the amount of light cast by that one match.
I got to thinking about this world. We know it’s a dark place. The Bible talks of it often. And sometimes in this day and age, you really feel it, don’t you? Sometimes you turn on the TV, or enter your place of work, or walk out in your street and it seems you can see the darkness everywhere. You wonder where the other Christians are. Why does it feel so evil and cold?
Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
You might feel alone in this dark world. But when you live for Christ, when you let his light shine in your life, you are the light of the world. And one light, one small little match, can light an entirely dark cavern. One light can make a difference.
So, I encourage you to let your light shine around you. You don’t need to wait until you have an entire candelabra to light the room. One tiny little match can make a difference. 1 John 5-7, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
What are you thinking about this week? Why not use your last post of the week to highlight something a bit "deeper" then the average “Momblog” fair? I’d love to read your thoughts. Please feel free to write and link up a “thoughtful” post below. You can write a new post or link up one you wrote earlier in the week. Please include a link back to here in your post.
Well, the local public schools went back in session at the beginning of the week and even though we are homeschooling this year, we’ve already got sick germs at the circus. Seems we’re not holding out for long sleeves and sweaters to welcome in those lovely, little germs.
But, can I tell you a little secret?
Part of me likes sick days.
No, I don’t like to see my kids suffering, and no I am not a big fan of the whining or continual moaning.
But, I do love the extra snuggles that come with sick days.
Today my youngest had a fever…followed later in the afternoon by a lovely little blister on her tongue. Seems she has a virus of some sort which I can’t pronounce, let alone spell. The end result is she wanted held from the time she woke up from her nap till she went to bed this evening.
So, I sat on the couch with her on my lap. For awhile she snuggled with her baby and sippie cup while I engaged in a one handed light saber battle with my three year old. A little while later my husband called and let me know he wouldn’t be home for dinner, he was aiming to get home in time for stories and kisses before bed. So, I popped in Winnie the Pooh, passed out cereal and apples for dinner and snuggled on the couch with my kiddos.
Time well spent if you ask me.
I know you can’t do this every day. I gotta make dinner and fold laundry and clean out closets. The kids need to go outside and run around. They gotta build lego castles, take care of baby dolls, and fight bad guys.
But some days, it’s nice to drop everything and do nothing but snuggle. My youngest will rarely sit still for more than one episode of Dora, but today she practically fell asleep on my lap as we watched the Silly Old Bear and his friends in the Hundred Acre Woods. The older two who’ve watched this movie countless times over the years giggled at antics which they now understand the humor behind. With my youngest on my lap and my arm around each of the other two, I smiled and told them how I liked snuggling with them. My son answered, “I love it too Mom!” (oh, how I know these days are fleeting).
Tonight as I go to bed, I will pray for restored health of my youngest and protected health for the other two. But, I will also say thanks for the precious time spent cuddling with each of them. I must remember to drop everything and snuggle more often…no need to wait for fevers.
As a side note, I decided this evening, that no matter how many times I watch the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, I still find the characters endearing and enchanting. I really don’t think I can tire of it.
Here’s a random Crystal factoid for you.
I hate flying.
It not the getting to the airport hrs early or the waiting in lines for security that gets me. It’s the act of actually flying that I am opposed to. Don’t get me wrong. I do it and though I am no frequent flier I would say I fly with some frequency; at least once sometimes twice a year. But, I hate the feeling of queasiness I get during take off and landing. Even worse than that, I lament the fact that unlike a 5 hr car ride, in a 5 hr plane ride there is no stopping for fresh air to stretch your legs a bit. No quick pit stops to grab a snack or two. From the moment the cargo doors shut until you are safely taxied up to the terminal at the end, you are stuck.
And this always creates a certain feeling of panic inside me.
I know what your thinking… oh Crystal is a claustrophobic. Maybe a little yea, but that’s not really the panic I’m talking about. This is a panic of much grander scale.
Will I have enough to eat???
Each time we pass through security I am scouting to find food to get me through the flight. “Were going to miss lunch,” I’ll tell a Scott as I make a dash for Subway or Starbucks or ahem both. And no matter how long the flight (it could literally be an hour flight before we transfer to our connecting flight), I still enter the terminal starved and convinced it must be dinner time somewhere (whether it’s home or our future destination) and therefore we better eat now or “our body will be out of whack.”
Somehow my fear of missing dinner due to the time zone changes and the long hours in the air, ensures that I ate three dinners instead of one… I won’t be stepping on the scale anytime soon as I am sure I put on 5 lbs this weekend thanks to the fact that Southwest doesn’t serve meals on flights.
During our recent visit to El Paso, we survived the desert trek to reach Carlsbad Caverns ( number 23 of the 47 U.S. National Parks we plan to visit in our life together).
It was a perfect day alone with the man of my dreams exploring and enjoying God’s creation.
We spent 5 hours exploring the caves 800 feet below the earth’s surface.
Pictures truly can’t do it justice, but I’ll try.
Can you guess what this rock formation was called? Look closely.
After spending the afternoon in the caverns below, we came up for dinner and then sunset with the bats.
Yes, you read that correctly. At dusk 400,000 (no that isn’t a typo, I meant to put all of those zeros there) bats fly out of the caves each night to feast on insects. It was amazing (and no I am not some crazy bat loving girl of the night). As we waited for the bats to fly out of the cave, I was totally grossed and freaked out, yet I knew it was something I didn’t want to miss. We sat and watched in hushed silence for over an hour as the bats continually flew out of the cave like a river flowing off into the desert.
Afterwards, we enjoyed a starry ride home in the barren desert.
It was one of the best days I’ve spent with my husband in a long, long time.
For more Wednesday pics, try here or here.
