Four Children's Prayers for Their Fathers

The end of the cul-de-sac on Shady Brook Lane were four houses. Each was the home of  boy and his family. The boys spend hours playing together. Legos and bike riding were their favorite things to do. While it may have looked to their family's like they did was play and ride, they each spent time taking in what the other families were like.

Sometimes when they went inside after a day of play they would pray they had a different dad. Well, not a completely different dad. Maybe a dad that was just a little more like one of the other dads.

Jason

The boy that live in the white Cape Cod house just as you entered the cul-de-sac was name Jason. His dad worked as the chief mechanic at a big car repair center. He came home dirty and sometimes a little smelly. Jason's mom had to scrub his clothes to remove each day's grime before washing them.

Jason's Prayer

Dear God,

I love my dad. You know I do, but his hands are always a little stained when he comes home. Mom has to scrub his clothes each and everyday so the grease from the cars doesn't set into them.

Please God give him a new job. I would love for him to have a job that he would need to wear a suit too. Kevin's dad wears a suit and tie to work everyday. He never comes home dirty. Maybe you could give him a job like him.

Amen!

Kevin

Kevin lived is a house next door. It was two story house with black shutters. The house wasn't fancy or big. Kevin's mom had hope for years that would move to a bigger house, but Kevin's dad said they needed to save for the future.  Kevin's dad had a job at big insurance company. He seemed to work all the time. Work kept him at the office late and he would come home and work some more.

Kevin's Prayer

Dear God,

My dad works so hard. He hardly seems to have time to sleep. I don't think he was able to come to many of my soccer games this spring. Sure wanted him to be there. He would have loved to see me make those goals.

Please God give him a job that doesn't take so much time. Jason's dad seems to be at home for dinner every night and he was at every soccer game. Maybe you could give him a job like his dad. Amen

Charlie

Charlie lived in a tan vinyl sided house with big window in the living room. They were perfect for looking out into the cul-de-sac to see who was coming home from work and who headed out with their family for dinner or to a park. Charlie's dad was in the Army and he had been away from almost six months so far. Charlie's knew his dad was in some place called Afghanistan. He talked to him through Skype on the computer, but it wasn't the same as having him home all the time.

Charlie's Prayer

Dear God

I miss my dad so much. He used to take me and my sister Rose to the park on Saturdays. Sometimes we would stop at McDonald's for lunch. It was wonderful. Just having him to ourselves.  If we stopped at  McDonald's, Dad would always get an extra large sweet tea for Mom. She loves sweet tea and Dad loved to surprise her with it.

Please God bring him home to us. I wish he could be home all the time like Joseph's dad. Joseph's dad is home all day long seven days a week. That would be so cool. When my dad comes home, can you have him be home all the time. Amen

Joseph

Joseph lived in the house just as you were living the cul-de-sac. The house's window's seemed to glisten in the sun. Joseph's dad washed them often. He also mowed the lawn regularly and sometimes headed over to  Charlie's house to mow the lawn there. Joseph's dad tried to keep busy when he wasn't looking for a job.  He had been hunting for a month or two and hadn't found anything yet. The extra family time and time to get caught up on things that had been left to do later had been wonderful that first month. Now he was starting to worry. Joseph could see the worried looks his parents shared. They tried to hide their concern from him, but he was old enough to sense something was worrying them.

Joseph's Prayer

Dear God

I love, love, love having my dad here to take them to the park and the library. We find the best books to check out. Some are a little violent. Mom wouldn't be excited about the books on tanks and war planes, but Dad seems to think they are okay.

My parents are worried though. They talk sometimes in whispers about dad's job hunt and how mom has to start hunting too. We need something called insurance I have heard mom say.

Please God give my dad a job like Charlie's dad, or Kevin's dad, or Jason's dad have. I know he could do just about any job you gave him. He just needs to have job.

Amen

The Boys' Prayers

Each of these boys loves their dads you can hear that in their prayers. Each of these boys sees something that he think could be changed. Each of the boys sees a dad that has what they think their dad needs and none of the boys realize that someone might what their dad to have.

What is most important is that each of these boys is that they realize they can lift their concerns in prayer!  They may not get the prayer answered as they have requested it though. God may answer their prayer in his own time and way. They may not understand that.
The hearts and prayers of these boys are simple and come from pure hearts.  I hope that you will take a few moments on before Father's Day to pray with your children for their dads. 
They may surprise you with  what they share in prayer. I bet Joseph, Kevin, Jason and Charlie's moms might have been a little surprised at what they child pray. (Well, maybe they wouldn't. Moms are pretty good at knowing what is on their children' hearts.)
This post in linked to Mrs. Matlock's Alphabe Thursday and Pour Your Heart Out on Things I Can't Say.

Teacher Appreciation Gift- Class Thank You Flower

This past year I have been one of the room moms for JDaniel's class. Sometime during the winter one of the moms came to me and said she had a great time for the teacher appreciation gift. She had found it on Pinterest. While I was searching for the idea she had found, I came across a class thank you flower shared on Hillside Elementary Library The Hillside Elementary Library blog suggested flowers be given to each teacher in the school by her students. It would be hung on the the teacher's door. Each petal of the flower had a picture or a message written on it by one of the students in her class. I love this teacher appreciation gift of a class thank you flower and pinned it so I would not forget it.

Last week I sent home two flower petals with each student in JDaniel's preschool class. I asked each student's mom to help them decorate and place a message one petal for their teacher and her teaching assistant.  

Yesterday I collected all the petals and put together the class thank you flowers. The teacher at Hillside Elementary had taped the petals of the flower in place. I wanted the teachers to be able to spread the petals out and fold them back in.

Each petal received a hole from a hole punch at one end. I then cut out two pink felt circles and cut small slits  in their centers. Next I placed on pink felt circle on the the brad. After the circle was in place, I added the decorate petals from the class. Finally I added the other pink circle.

I did the same thing for both teacher's thank you flowers.

Why did I do it this way?

Felt Circles

Many of the students decorated or had messages that went the full length of the petal. By using felt instead of cardboard the teachers could lift up the circle to read the full message or take in the full picture.

Folding Flowers
I chose to  have the flowers fold so the teachers would be able to store them easily. I wasn't sure how they would store a large flower.
Two Circles
Two felt circles were used to help the petals stay on the brad. I was worried over time the petals in the back might slip of the brad.

The teachers received their teacher appreciation gifts last night. Both loved their class thank you flowers.  I watched as they read over some of the messages. They were really touched by them.

How do you remember your child's teacher or teachers at the end of the year?

Preschool Graduation Bento Lunch

   

I honestly can't believe today is my son's preschool graduation day. His time in preschool has flown by. Seriously! It seems like only yesterday I registered him for preschool. A special day like today totally deserves a preschool graduation lunch.

Tonight he will be wearing a cap and gown along with his Sunday best. JDaniel has been quietly singing the songs for tonight is his room. I am not supposed to hear them until the event. He was given a special instructions to keep them as a surprise. I don't think they want all the mom's sobbing while they listen to them at home All the tears I have will have to stored up for tonight.

What was in his lunch?

JDaniel is still requesting cheese sandwiches for lunch. This cheese sandwich features a cap that I cut freehand. It took me a couple of attempts to get it right. I ended up filling up on cheese scraps while working on this project.

Meat is not one of his favorite lunch items lately. I rolled a single slice of turkey into a some what scroll like creation and slid it onto a graduation cap ring.

Watermelon and strawberries are not only favorite fruits of JDaniel's they add a burst of of color to the meal. This meal definitely needed some color.  I found the cutest cat pick at a local 5 and 10 for him to use to pick up the fruit . He was the closest thing I could find to a preschooler graduating.

I will be posting some of his graduation pictures tonight on Instagram and Facebook if you what to see them.

How have you celebrate your chlidren's graduations?

Patriotic Foods for Kids

The summer is filled with patriotic holidays.  Memorial Day next week. Flag Day is on June 14th. Then there is the 4th of July in the middle of the summer. Finally there is Labor Day which is celebrate at summers end. I searched through the blog's archives to find patriotic food for kids that I have served.  These meals, snacks and desserts may have originally been served on Memorial Day or 4th of July, but would be wonderful for any of the patriotic holidays I listed above.

Twisted Stripe Wrapped Hot Dog Meal

Pinwheel 4th of July Snack

Patriotic Ice Cream Sundae

Split Hot with Salads Meal

Fruit Flavored Watermelon Stars

Child Build Stars and Stripe Meal

Labor Day Star Themed Meal

Memorial Day Picnic Foods Meal

I hope you have found a patriotic food the kids in your life would love among the collection above. There are several more in the blog's archives. These are the ones I though you might like the best.

If you have a post or idea that you think would make a great patriotic food for kids, feel free to leave a link to it below. I am always looking for food ideas to add to my Food Creations board  on Pinterest.

{Read.Explore.Learn} Reading Comprehension: Illustrating a Story

This weeks JDaniel and I read the book Amelia Bedelia Helps Out.  JDaniel loves the humorous way Amelia messes things up by not understanding that words have multiple meanings. I love her too. She turns 50 this year. (That means that people have been chuckling at her missteps for over half a century. ) It is her misunderstanding that I decided to focus on in this reading comprehension activity called illustrating a story.

JDaniel and I have read this story many many times in the past. Since we have been talking about gardening for the past few week, this book so needed to read again. A few of her mistakes are related to gardening. She weeds the garden by adding weeds. She stakes the bean by wrapping steaks around them. Amelia uses a duster to dust the potato bugs with bug powder.

She also does a number of other odd things thinking she is doing the right thing. You just have to love her and giggle at what she does that is part of the fun of reading her stories.

Illustrate a Story

Picture walking through a story means you flip through a story and look at the clues the pictures give as to what is happening in the story. Illustrate a story is the opposite of picture walking. During illustrate a story, a child flips through a book and looks for key concepts and pictures in a story they have already heard or read. They then draw them on a larger roll of paper in the order they happened in the story.

We looked through the story and picked four of the events that we wanted to draw. Both JDaniel and I worked on the drawings and we talked about what was happening in that part of the story.

Drawing Weeds

I drew the weeds and JDaniel added details to them. We talked about how they needed to be very big weeds just like the ones Amelia Bedelia had added to the garden.

Drawing Bean Plants and Steaks

It was so much fun to draw the bean plants and add pink steaks onto them. We don't eat steaks often at our house. JDaniel kept having to refer to the book to see what they looked like.

Dusting Potato Bugs

I tried drawing a potato bug like the one in the book and JDaniel told me it was not exciting. I didn't know that they were supposed to be exciting. He grabbed a gray crayon after drawing his own leaf and make one that was more exciting then mine.

Giving The Chickens Scraps

JDaniel seemed to have lost interest in drawing when we got to giving the chicken scraps of cloth. I started the chicken and he finished it. The feathers and feet are all his. I just love them.

When we finished, I had him walk me through the events of the story we had selected. I was really expecting to just talk about what had happened. JDaniel grabbed the book and looked through it to find each of the events. I love that he had us go through the book as we discussed it.

While his not yet reading, he has learned show that he comprehends what is being read to him. I think we will be illustrating a story again soon. As he does learn to read and write better, I will have him add keywords from the text to the pictures.

How did you explore books this week? If you have a post you would like to share, please link it up below. Once you have added your post, please visit at least three others.

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